Snakes and Ladders
by ShearViscosity
Summary: Twin sisters discover the bridge in their backyard leads to a real Disney World where they are the subjects of a prophecy- one will be a hero, the other a villain. 17 years later Sidney still believes in magic. Lindsey doesn't, but is forced to upon being kidnapped by villains who have grown tired of waiting for her return, and victory over the heroes. Updated every other Sunday.
1. Prologue

I do not own the rights to anything Disney.

**Snakes and Ladders**

**Prologue**

_Snakes and Ladders: An ancient game that originated in India known as Moksha Patam which contrasts karma and kama, or destiny and desire. It can also be used to teach morality, good vs. evil. The ladders represented virtues such as generosity, faith, and humility, while the snakes represented vices such as lust, anger, murder, and theft. The morality lesson of the game was that a person can attain salvation (Moksha) through doing good, whereas by doing evil one will inherit rebirth to lower forms of life. The number of ladders was less than the number of snakes as a reminder that a path of good is much more difficult to tread than a path of sins._

_-Abridged entry from Wikipedia_

* * *

This story, does not take place 'Once Upon a Time' nor in a 'Far Away Land'. Instead, it occurs much more recently, and closer to home. However, it does begin many years ago- seventeen to be precise.

There once were two little girls. These girls were sisters, identical twins in fact. Both loved each other very much, and shared a deep love for fairy tales as well. Every night, their parents would read aloud tales of princesses, evil sorcerers, witches, and knights before the twins would fall asleep and dream of their own adventures.

To celebrate the twins' fourth birthday, their parents decided to take them to the Most Magical Place on Earth: Disney World. On the night of their birthday, while watching the fireworks display, something rather unusual occurred- a falling star. Remembering the song, 'When You Wish Upon a Star', and the stories their parents told them about falling stars, both girls made wishes. One wished she could go to the _real_ Disney World and not the theme park. The other wished that her sister's wish would come true.

Contrary to popular belief, magic does exist in the 'Real World'. It's not as common as it once was, but it does exist for those who believe- including two little girls who made wishes upon a falling star.

When the girls returned home, they made a startling discovery. Behind their house was a small wooded area that they played in frequently, before the trip to Disney World and before the wishes. In the wooded area, was a bridge that crossed over a small creek. After the trip and the wishes, the bridge had become magical. Whenever one crossed it, they would leave one world behind, and cross into another. The bridge, though small, was a true bridge; bridging the gap between the Disney World and the 'Real World'.

The Disney World had always existed; it didn't suddenly pop into existence due to a little girl's wish upon a star- magic wasn't _that_ powerful. There are multiple universes out there existing next to our own on another plane of existence. The physical laws governing each world vary greatly- in some magic is as common as dirt, in others it doesn't exist at all, and in others such as ours, it's extremely rare.

Just because something appears as fiction in our world, doesn't mean it can't be real in another. Sometimes worlds can overlap and cause a person to feel what is called deja vu, if they already did something similar before in another world. The worlds can also influence dreams, and ideas. Say, one world might be full of magic and another might get a little too close and turn the other's reality into fiction.

Such was the case for Walt Disney. His animation studio (along with most of Hollywood for that matter) happens to be located in an area where the boundary between worlds is rather thin, and certain ideas get through. There is a reason why Hollywood succeeded as the film capital of America rather than New York, where it started with Thomas Edison.

If it exists in fiction, then there is probably a world for it (which could be a good or bad thing depending on your tastes and interests). It's the difficulty of figuring out a method of traveling between the worlds that prevents people from believing in other worlds outside their own. For two little girls though, that difficulty was overcome with wishing upon a star.

Every day they'd race over the bridge and into their own Disney World. At first the inhabitants weren't sure what to think of the two little girls that would appear and disappear in their world. Eventually the two girls were determined to be 'mostly harmless', and were soon accepted.

Then a certain prophecy came to light. One concerning two sisters from a foreign land (foreign to Disney at least). It was said that one would grow up to be a horrible villain, bringing about a great darkness to the land, and it would be left to the other, a hero, to fight her with the Sword of Destiny. During the struggle, only one would emerge alive and victorious. Whether it would be the hero or the villain, was unknown, as was the identity of the first speaker of the prophecy.

Not everything was rosy and sunny as one might believe in a Disney World. The villains were constantly rebelling against the heroes, invading their lands and fighting against their rules and order. In return, the heroes were driving the villains off of their own lands, and creating harsher laws. As such, the idea that the girls could be the key to ending the struggle was attractive to both sides.

Knowing that one would be a great hero and the other a great villain, the two girls were watched closely for signs of which was which by heroes and villains alike. However, not even the most powerful genie, fairy godmother, or sorcerer, could determine anything from ones so young. Oblivious to the watchful eyes surrounding them, the girls continued to play and have adventures, even when they started school.

Like most stories about heroes, there comes a time of turmoil and difficulty in one's life and the girls were no different. Growing up and being told magic and other childhood dreams are fiction is hard enough, but being told that while knowing of a magical world just a step away is even harder. To settle the matter, the girls tried to show their parents and friends the bridge as a means of proof.

The attempt while noble, failed. In order to cross the bridge to the magical World, one must believe that it exists. Since everybody around the twins had long since stopped believing in magic and fairy tales, they couldn't cross. Because they couldn't cross, they mocked the girls and told them magic didn't exist and it was time to grow-up.

The peer pressure affected both girls differently. One decided to grow-up and lost her faith in fairy tales and all things Disney. She stopped visiting the other world and it soon became nothing but a distant memory of a game she and her sister would play when they were younger. The other clung to the belief in magic and fairy tales, and continued her visits to the World despite the naysayers around her. It was this girl, the heroes and villains were sure, who would bring about a new age of peace.

But this story isn't about that girl, the one who believed. It's about her sister, the one who didn't.

****Author's Note****

I know that there are plenty of 'girl gets trapped in real Disney World' out there. Some are amazing, some are cliched, and others never get past the first couple chapters. For the longest time I've been hesitant to do ones for fear of it turning out to be either cliched or never making it past the first couple chapters. However, certain plot lines wouldn't leave my brain alone until I wrote one and this is the result.

Choosing the title was the hardest part. This story will involve themes concerning good vs. evil, destiny vs. free will, cause and effect what makes a hero or a villain. While the title is a bit unusual for a Disney story, I felt it also summed up the story the best.

I'd also like to point out that since the Disney World that appears in this story is its own world and dimension with its own history, not all Disney movies/characters will be featured. No movies that take place in modern day or revolve around animals will be included as much as I would love to do so.

There has to be some sense of logic and order to the world, and having animals walking and talking about like they're human while others are regular animals doesn't make sense, nor does having 21st century technology exist in the same time as Sleeping Beauty, Hercules, etc... Also expect to see characters and details from the animated feature films only- no sequels, no Pixar, no TV shows.

Movies/characters that will be featured: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, Sword in the Stone, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan, Emperor's New Groove, and Tangled.

I also plan on updating every other Sunday.

Since this chapter was more about setting the story up, I decided to go ahead and upload the next chapter.

Thanks for reading and I hope you'll enjoy the story.


	2. Going Home

I do not own the rights to anything Disney.

**Part One: Villain**

**Going Home**

"Are you sure I can't go home with you?"

"Sure, if you want to slave away in the summer heat. My dad owns a construction company and makes all his kids know the meaning of back-breaking work. It's his way of motivating us to go college and get good grades. On second thought, perhaps you should come home with me."

Lindsey Yates, college junior soon to be senior, climbed up her lofted bed and plopped herself on her mattress. Gone were her obnoxiously bright orange bed sheets; they had already been packed away with the rest of her college possessions in preparation of returning home.

Like her roommate, Hailey, she had waited till the last possible day to move out of the dorms before their school would kick them out since the current school year had ended. Unlike Hailey, Lindsey's version of packing was shoving all of her belongings into garbage bags and then playing Tetris with her beat-up Pontiac. Hailey, however, had actually planned ahead by getting cardboard boxes from the dining hall and whatever totes her family could spare. She had even sent most of her stuff home over spring break.

That was the difference between the two. Hailey was the hard working electrical engineering student, while Lindsey was the fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants type, doing the bare minimum to get by in college. What they had in common, was everything else. The same taste in music, movies, and for the most part, fun.

From her perch above, Lindsey continued the conversation with her roommate. "My grades aren't that bad."

"You're on academic probation," pointed out Hailey, who was waiting for her parents to arrive to take her home. She had helped Lindsey with her packing that morning, and Lindsey in return agreed to keep her company while Hailey waited.

"Which is totally different than flunking out. You know what they say, D's get degrees," said Lindsey as she rolled onto her stomach, allowing her a better view of Hailey.

"Uh-huh. If I got the grades you did, my dad would have me out of school and working for him, telling me I can pay my own damn tuition with grades like that."

Lindsey rolled her eyes. "Yes well, that's because your parents have high expectations of you. I'm already considered a success for staying out of jail and not having three kids."

"Completely over-looking the fact you're an alcoholic."

"Pssh. It's not considered alcoholism if you're in college," replied Lindsey, and dismissed her roommate's comments with a wave of her hand.

Hailey snorted. "Try telling your liver that."

"My liver is just fine. Besides, I'm not an alcoholic."

"Says the girl who can't go more than eight hours without a drink. Did I mention those eight hours only occur when you're sleeping?"

Lindsey responded by shrugging her shoulders as if she didn't care, but the truth was, Hailey was more right than Lindsey cared to admit. Alcohol and Lindsey were old friends, going way back before she had even graduated high school. It was only in the past year or so though, had she truly grown dependent on the substance as a means to help her get through a day, and to get to sleep at night. Worse, it was taking more and more for Lindsey to get buzzed, let alone drunk and wasted.

Most of Lindsey's friends were used to her partying behavior and didn't question her. The only reason why Hailey brought it up every day was because she had grown suspicious of the 'water bottle' Lindsey had started taking to bed with her since last fall. Hailey was genuinely concerned about her roommate's health and suspected it had something to do with the state of Lindsey's relationship with her family. Whenever she brought the topic up, Lindsey would laugh it off, just like she was doing at the moment.

Hailey opened her mouth to respond, but it was that moment her parents arrived, and Lindsey was saved from taking the conversation seriously. For the moment.

* * *

Three hours later, Lindsey was pulling into the driveway at her own house. Before getting out of her Pontiac, she took a couple seconds to brace herself for her family.

What she had told Hailey about her parents not having high expectations wasn't too far from the truth. She barely graduated high school, barely got accepted into college, and was barely going to graduate from college. Whenever her parents had encouraged her to do better, she'd simply do worse until they backed off. Groundings, additional chores, the confiscation of her possessions such as her laptop and cell phone did nothing to her. Lindsey would simply wait her punishment out and then go back to doing the bare minimum to get by. Eventually her parents gave up the fight, and were simply grateful that Lindsey didn't turn out worse.

Her sister was another story. Beautiful, wonderful, perfect, miss-can-never-do-no-wrong, golden-girl, Sidney. Valedictorian of their high school, fencing champion, involved with several volunteer organizations Sidney. Despite numerous offers from prestigious universities, she had decided to attend the in-town college, saying she'd rather be close to her family. Lindsey had always suspected that there was an ulterior motive, but never pushed the issue, because that would require effort and she honestly didn't care for Sidney's reasons, whatever they might be.

Normally, being the sibling of a so-called 'perfect' child might cause feelings of resentment or jealousy. Such wasn't the case with Lindsey. In fact, she encouraged her sister to do well. The more events her sister did, the less time their parents had to harp on Lindsey. The more achievements she made, the more their parents could be proud of her, and the more Lindsey could disappear into the background like she wanted. It was a common joke in the family that while they may have been identical twins, Sidney had inherited the brains and brawn, and Lindsey had inherited whatever was left over.

That didn't make family get-togethers any less awkward. She'd still have to deal with questions from relatives of what she had recently achieved or why she wasn't more like Sidney. There had even been a couple times when she was younger of being mistaken for Sidney. Lindsey solved that issue by cutting her honey-blond hair super short and styling it like a pixie cut and dying it red. The red made it appear more of a ginger orange than red which pleased Lindsey since orange was her favorite color.

She would have love to have a couple facial piercings as well, just to see the looks on her parents faces, but the memory of getting her ears pierced when she was eight stopped her. The pain from the needles and infected ears was not something she wanted to repeat. Besides, the hair alone was enough to separate her from her sister, and her family never mistook her for Sidney again.

While her parents who had long ago given up hope of Lindsey being an over-achiever, Sidney still believed in Lindsey. At the back of her closet was an entire shoe box containing brochures and pamphlets of different programs or schools Sidney thought Lindsey should look into. They varied from trade schools, the military, and international programs. Whenever Sidney gave them to her, Lindsey would zone out and stop listening to her little speech, but nod as if she cared. Once Sidney was done talking, Lindsey promised to look into it, and then stick whatever it was in the box.

There had been a couple times when Sidney had filled out applications for her, but Lindsey managed to mess up every interview and every opportunity that resulted from the applications. Sidney would just tell her it wasn't meant to be, not realizing that Lindsey had messed whatever-it-was up on purpose.

In Lindsey's mind, Sidney should just be happy Lindsey had even gone to college in the first place when she could have stayed home and done nothing. That was the main reason she left- she didn't want to live at she could have, Lindsey would have fled to Antarctica. Unfortunately, the only place that accepted her was just three hours away, not thousands of miles as she had hoped. It wasn't her parents, Sidney, or the house itself that she wanted to flee from, it was her backyard.

She knew as a child she had played for hours in the woods behind her house, and Sidney still did. To fear them, was illogical and stupid, which was probably why Lindsey had never confided in anybody her fear. She couldn't remember why or how the fear started. What she could remember was a feeling of dread. Whenever she was out in her backyard or looking at the woods, she felt like something was looking back, as if something was watching her.

There had been a couple times where Sidney had tried to goad her into crossing over the bridge and into the woods. It never worked though. Lindsey's chest would get tight, a familiar feeling of dread would fill her body, and the fight or flight response would kick in. Lindsey never fought, she always fled from the woods and whatever dangers lurked there, just waiting for her to enter. She just knew if she even placed one foot into the woods she would be dragged deeper and deeper into the darkness, never to be seen again.

So Lindsey fled. She used college as an excuse to flee from her home, doing the bare minimum to get in and stay in. When she was home, she fled to parties with her friends and kept her time at home limited. Just enough to drop off laundry, get some food, say hello to her parents and sister, and crash on her bed before leaving once more.

Dark and depressing thoughts had never been a Lindsey thing, so she turned her thoughts elsewhere before entering her house such as readying herself for the reaction to her grades. Sidney would certainly have something to say about them and the fact that she had changed majors for the fifth time. Her parents would be silent, as usual. Lindsey just hoped the lecture wouldn't go too late, and prevent her from meeting up with some high school friends later.

After all, she wanted this to be one of the best summers ever, and she couldn't let something like grades get in her way. If anything they'd just add another year or so to her degree, and another year or so before having to go out in the real world. Which, from observing her parents, sucked completely. Bills, jobs, insurance... Just the thought of all that responsibility made her shudder. Doing the bare minimum to get by meant your responsibilities were kept to a minimum as well.

Lindsey honestly didn't know what she feared more- responsibility or the woods. She did know that both were to be avoided at all costs and it would most certainly be a while before she would ever have to face them.

Or so she thought.

****Author's Note****

For the record, I don't endorse/encourage under-aged or binge drinking, and there is a reason why Lindsey does so.

Next chapter will feature Disney characters and get more into the plot.

That's all for now, thanks for reading, and if possible, please leave a review.


	3. Lindsey's Very Bad Day

I don't own the rights to anything Disney. Next update: December 30th

**Lindsey's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day**

Her head felt heavy. Scratch that. Her whole entire body felt heavy. So heavy, that if it wasn't for a building pressure in her bladder, she would have been more than content to drift back off to sleep. As each second passed, she felt the urge to go grow stronger and stronger. Eventually it became so strong she had no choice but to wake up. She vowed to return to her slumber once her bladder was happy and empty. It had been such a wonderful and resting sleep, she couldn't remember the last time she had one of those.

Lindsey blinked several times, taking in the view above her. It wasn't a ceiling, but instead, was cloth, a rich green velvet. Turning her head from side to side, she saw that the material turned into curtains around her bed. The soft sheets and pillows she were laying on were made of silk, and were a much lighter shade of green than the velvet curtains.

By this point, most people would be curious as to why they were in a strange bedroom rather than their own. As for Lindsey who had awoken to the situation before; she was more curious in the decorating choices of whoever the bedroom belonged to. Green was a decent color, but being surrounded completely by it was a bit much. It looked as if a leprechaun had thrown up all over the bed, which in turned made Lindsey want to thrown up- after peeing of course.

Peeking out from the curtains, she saw the green theme had been continued throughout the rest of the room- it was in the curtains on the windows, in the rug beneath her feet, in the sparse furnishings, and in the tapestries lining the walls. There was also a touch of gloom and doom that somebody had tried to cover up- the stone walls and floors, the small windows, the oversized fireplace- with all the green.

They failed miserably. Instead of driving the gloom and doom away, the room appeared as if it belonged to the Wicked Witch of the West. All that was needed to complete the effect were some flying monkeys.

"Still not the worst place I've slept in," commented Lindsey. Her eyes scanned the room- fancy bed, fancy chair, fancy couch thing, fancy closet thing, fancy fireplace, fancy things on the wall- nothing that screamed 'relieve your bladder here'. Then her eyes fell upon the sole wooden door in the room, located to the right of the fireplace.

Getting to the door was slower than she would have liked. Her body still felt heavy, her joints were stiff, and her muscles complaining about moving. The fact that she was also walking with her legs close together due to her full bladder wasn't helping matters at all.

A groan escaped her lips upon opening the door. Instead of revealing a gloom and doom bathroom, it had revealed a gloom and doom hallway. While it was nice to know there was a way out of the room, Lindsey would have been happier to see a toilet.

She looked to her right and her left. "Hello?" she cried. "Hello? Is anyone here?"

Silence was her answer and she groaned again. The lighting the torches provided was dim, but Lindsey could still make out doors dotting the walls on both sides of the wall to her left and right.

_Now_, thought Lindsey, _if I were a toilet, where would I be?_

There were plenty of doors to pick from, the problem was if she would choose correctly before her bladder chose for her. Making a split second decision, she reached for the doorknob of the door directly across from her since it was the closest. Lindsey regretted it the moment her hand touched the knob. A jolt of _something_ shocked her hand, sending pins and needles traveling throughout her body, causing her arm to go numb.

"Ow!" she cried, jerking her hand back from the knob.

Whoever heard of actually connecting a doorknob to electricity to keep the unwanted out? That was the only explanation Lindsey could think of, and it was only something she had seen in movies, like that one with the kid and the burglars. It seemed impractical in real life, because how would the owner ever get in without being electrocuted?

_Unless_, a small voice started to say in her mind, _they were already in the room..._

The voice must have had a sick twist of timing, for as the thought was occurring to her, Lindsey could hear the sound of locks unlatching, and the door opened in front of her.

"Oh, look who decided to finally wake up."

The woman before her had dark hair with dark violet eyes full of mischief. Her lipstick was a bright red- too bright in Lindsey's opinion, and it didn't match her purple dress...? It looked to be a dress, but wasn't in a style Lindsey was familiar with, and the shell necklace seemed really out of place. Perhaps the oddest part was how deep her voice was compared to how she looked. They just didn't seem to go together.

Her bladder then reminded Lindsey she had priorities and should be concentrating on other things such as finding a bathroom, and not the weird woman who electrocuted her. The time to deal with the weirdness could happen after finding a bathroom.

"Yeah, um is there a bathroom here? Because I kinda have to go, really badly..."

To prove that she was telling the truth, Lindsey started to do the potty dance, hopping from foot to foot.

The woman seemed confused about at the 'bathroom' part, but her dark eyes lit up in recognition upon Lindsey's dance.

"Ah, you mean the garderobe, at the end of the hall to your left. I told Mal, she didn't need that much potion, but what do I know of sleeping spells compared to her and Hildey? The nerve of those two, I swear..."

Lindsey didn't bother staying around to hear the rest or find out who Mal or Hildey was later. The time for weird was later, and the time for her bladder was _now_.

If only she had bothered to ask what a garderobe was.

* * *

When she had relieved her bladder at last, she had to concede it was in one of the strangest bathrooms she had ever been in. At first, she didn't even realize it was a bathroom. Behind the wooden door at the end of the hall was a small room. To her left was a small table with a bowl of water, some bars of soap, and a towel on a hook. To her right were some hooks on the wall, waiting for objects to be hung upon them. Against the back wall was a long wooden bench thing, that reminded Lindsay of the window seat that was in her and Sidney's room. The only difference being this one had a hole cut into it and a small stack of paper at the one end.

At first she didn't quite understand. Where was the toilet? Where was the sink? Where was the_ bathroom_?

Then she recalled what the woman had said, it was a garderobe, not a bathroom. Lindsey didn't know what a garderobe was, she had simply assumed it was another word for toilet.

Hoping that the hole wasn't for what she thought it was for, she bent closer and looked down into the hole. Blackness was the only thing she saw, though she did feel a breeze wafting up and away from the hole, carrying scents of rain and wet grass. Wherever the hole led, it had to be outside, which was good enough for Lindsey. She was to the point that she didn't care where she went, as long it was _now_.

Once she was done and had washed her hands, the weirdness of the situation started to sink in.

She was, from what she could tell, in an old castle or building. One that didn't have any plumbing. Wearing some sort of old-fashioned nightgown that reached to the floor and covered her arms, making her feel as if she was about to go to bed for a long winter's nap rather than waking up on a summer's day. Oh yeah, and she was pretty sure that the crazy woman from earlier had electrocuted her.

Since she had finally relieved her bladder, it was now time to freak out about where she was and how she had ended up here.

Lindsey strained her memory to remember what happened the night before. While her body and head weren't as achy or stiff as before now that she had been moving about (and gotten a shock treatment), remembering was still a difficult task. Which was odd, since being unable to remember a previous night hadn't happened in quite a while.

She remembered getting home. Then supper, being scolded by her parents and Sidney for grades as expected. Afterwards she had changed clothes to meet up with Andrew and Dina, her two friends that were already home. Except the two had arrived early, in her backyard instead of the front of her house. Then again, it wasn't like Lindsey had ever told them she hated the backyard, they just never hung out there. Even stranger was the fact Lindsey had been pretty sure Dina wasn't going to show- she had texted during dinner that she had to work. For a couple seconds, they even seemed to flicker, as if they weren't quite real.

In hindsight Lindsey knew she should have questioned them, but she had just assumed Dina had gotten somebody to cover for her. Once again, assuming had gotten her into trouble. She seemed to be doing that quite a lot lately- assuming things, getting into trouble for doing so later. Not only had she assumed Dina had managed to avoid work, she also assumed the fruity drink Dina had offered her was perfectly safe to drink.

The fact that she couldn't remember anything after indicated otherwise.

But it still didn't make any sense. Even if Dina had drugged her, why? And Dina didn't have a castle. To her knowledge, there were no castles or stone buildings in the area, and all the buildings had plumbing. Or at least she was pretty sure they did, it wasn't like she had ever checked each and every one.

Deciding that some investigation was necessary to figure out what was going on, Lindsey ventured back out into the hallway she had been previously.

Apparently, the crazy woman from earlier had friends- they were all standing outside of the door and gazing intently at Lindsey.

Crazy Woman was standing on the left, with three other women who were clothing that made crazy woman look normal comparatively. The one on the right, even had green skin. Lindsey suspected she was the one behind the green decor in the room Lindsey had woken up in. Somebody clearly had a Wicked West of the West fetish. Though Lindsey was pretty sure the Witch always wore a hat, not horns.

The rest of the clothes weren't much better. One looked like she belonged at a Renaissance Fair, and the other... Lindsey's best guess was some sort of nunnery or convent with the hood covering her hair.

Clearly there was some sort of convention or historical re-enactment going on, which also would explain the castle and lack of bathroom.

Wherever she was, Lindsey wanted answers and was determined to get them. She put her left hand on her hip, and said as menacingly as she could, "Who are you and where am I?"

"At my castle in the Forbidden Mountains," answered the Wicked West. Judging by the solemn expression on her face, she wasn't intimidated by Lindsey in the least. If anything, Lindsey was intimidated by_ her_. Her cool gaze seemed to be taking in everything about Lindsey- her bed-hair sticking out crazily since she hadn't gotten a chance to comb it yet, her bare feet on the cold stone floor, the glare on her face. Lindsey felt like she was the cow, and the Wicked Witch was the butcher deciding on the best way to chop her up into pieces.

Not liking the way she was being evaluated, Lindsey tried once more to determine where she was.

"I'm sorry... where?"

"You have no idea who we are, do you child?" teased Crazy Woman on the left, enjoying Lindsey's cluelessness.

Lindsey may have not known who they were, but she had different theories. They were figments of her imagination or a dream. A very real, and highly detailed dream. Perhaps a bit too real and vivid. So maybe they were LARPers, or actors Peter- one of her friends who had yet to return for the summer- paid for some new prank that involved her. Or maybe, they were actually members of some crazy cult who had kidnapped her. That seemed like the most plausible explanation.

"Not knowing who you are is perfectly understandable," responded Renaissance Fair, interrupting Lindsey's thoughts. "After all, even I have trouble recognizing you without all the extra weight and tentacles."

The other two women snickered, while Crazy Woman was not amused, her face was starting to turn red, and she looked as if she wanted to break Renaissance Fair's neck. Lindsey was stuck on the 'tentacles' line, trying to figure out what that could possibly mean. She was hoping it didn't mean what she thought it meant. Though if that was the case, it would confirm the crazy cult theory.

Crazy Woman took a step toward Renaissance Fair. "Why you little-"

"Ladies," said a voice from behind the woman. The owner stepped between Renaissance Fair and Crazy Woman, using his arms as a way to keep them apart and from fighting. "This is a time to be celebrating, not fighting among each other. Save that for the heroes."

"You're blue."

It was the only thing Lindsey could think of at the time. Wicked Witch had green skin, but it was more of a light green, a shade that you didn't really notice and seemed natural on her. He wasn't just blue, he was _blue_, in your face blue. Her eyes traveled from his blue skin to his head where she noticed a detail she had missed earlier, something that made blue skin seem normal- fire. His head, or hair rather, was on _fire_; flickering in the dimly lighted hallway. Nobody else appeared to notice or care.

He gawked at her, as if she had said something obvious like 'the sky is blue' or 'cows go moo'. Alright, so the fact that his skin was blue was obvious, but it wasn't something that Lindsey experienced everyday. People just didn't walk about with blue skin, or green for that matter. If they did it was part of a costume, and while the rest of his appearance might qualify as a costume, he didn't act like it was. Everybody seemed comfortable with their appearance, like it was their normal everyday clothes.

Which made Lindsey all the more aware of her own clothing- the old-fashioned nightgown and how uncomfortable she was in it. Her idea of PJ's was a light tank top, or t-shirt, with shorts or pajama pants depending on the time of year. She didn't even know if she owned a nightgown, and if she did, it certainly did not look like what she was wearing.

A couple of seconds later he was done gawking at her and turned his attention to the Wicked Witch. "Okay, so she's clearly not the smarter one, but she's here as promised."

"Are you sure she wasn't dropped in the process?" questioned the Wicked Witch.

"Hey, my guys are way more competent than yours. They at last know that babies grow up into troublesome brats."

"If I recall correctly, they failed to stop one baby from growing up into one of those troublesome brats. At least my minions had an excuse, idiocy Yours were merely incompetent," replied the Wicked Witch coolly.

Lindsey's mind was busy catching up with the new information. The Blue Fire Headed Guy had pretty much called her stupid. He had also said something about 'how she was here as promised'. Which had to mean...

By this point, the fire on Blue Fire Headed Guy was red, as was his face, and the flames seemed to be growing higher and higher as his argument with Wicked West got more heated.

Lindsey didn't care about their fight, she cared more about her sudden realization. "You kidnapped me?!" she shrieked.

The possibility had occurred to her earlier, but it hadn't quite sunk in. Some part of her had still been hoping this was all an elaborate dream, or one of Peter's crazy pranks to kick off the summer. She was always getting into mischief with him and his cousin Teddy, when they were younger, and it was something that sounded like him.

Being kidnapped made what was going on so much realer. Stories of kidnapped victims raced through her head. One common element in all the stories was the victim being found dead. The gravity of her situation made her realize just how screwed she was. She didn't have a weapon to fight back with, even if she knew how to fight. She didn't know where she was, or if the people who had kidnapped her was going to harm her or not. She didn't even know why she had been kidnapped in the first place.

Dina and Andrew. What if they were part of it too? What if they weren't accomplices, but victims?

She opened her mouth to start shrieking again, asking all the questions that were racing through her mind. Blue Fire Head Guy, who's fire had returned to it's normal shade of blue, put a finger to her lips before she could take in a breath.

"Wouldn't have had to kidnap you sweet cheeks, if you had just come willingly. The thing is, we got tired of waiting for you to return and help us defeat little Miss Suzy Sunshine and her army of heroes. So we really had no choice but to bring you back against your will. And now that you're here, we can get finally get the shindig started."

"Are you saying that my being kidnapped was my fault?! And what do you mean help you defeat Suzy Sunshine? Get what started? Where's Dina and Andrew? What-"

Tired of her yelling, Blue Fire Head Guy put a hand over her mouth to muffle her. Lindsey got the message and stopped yelling, and glared. She started to consider whether or not it'd be worth it to bite his hand. It was probably safer not to, who knew what diseases he could have? What if she caught the one that caused him to be blue?

Meanwhile, he rolled his eyes and sighed. "Got a set of pipes, I'll give you that. Mal," since his eyes were on the Wicked Witch, Lindsey took it mean that she was this 'Mal' person, "did you even tell her anything?"

"Call me 'Mal' one more time and I'll make sure you'll never be able to speak again," responded 'Mal', which from what Lindsey gathered, wasn't actually her name. A nickname then? "I was about to before you decided to stop Ursula and Gothel from killing each other."

"Well Babe," 'Mal' didn't seem to think 'Babe' was how she should be addressed either, "I'd figured it'd cut down on the paperwork to bring them back to life."

"Whoever said you had to bring them back to life?"

Ursula, formally called Crazy Woman, and Gothel, formally called Renaissance Fair, both let out cries of indignation.

"Hold it right there, Hades-" began Gothel, but she was interrupted by Ursula, who had a louder voice. The nun, who's real name Lindsey still had yet to learn, quietly watched as the drama continued to unfold before her.

"Maleficent, how dare you suggest that-"

Hold on... Maleficent, Ursula, Hades. Those names, Lindsey was sure she had heard them before somewhere, but where? Actually, now that she really thought about it, they even looked familiar. Lindsey stopped paying attention to the argument, and started to concentrate on how she could possibly know these people.

It took her about another minute or so, but she finally had a breakthrough once she managed to catch some line about 'pricking fingers on spinning wheels'. That reminded her of Sleeping Beauty, including the Disney version which featured Maleficent as the villain. From there, she gradually started to recognize everybody else in the room.

Ursula was in her human form, which explained the weight and tentacle comment from earlier. The Nun was actually the Queen from Snow White. Blue Fire Head Guy was Hades from Hercules, and Lindsey didn't know what movie Gothel or Renaissance Fair was from, but wasn't too bothered since she hadn't watched any Disney movies in years. She couldn't even remember the last time she had _seen_ a Disney movie, or which one it was. Personally she was surprised she knew as many as she did. Watching Disney movies was a Sidney thing- she owned a copy of every movie, and knew more facts and trivia about the history of the company than Lindsey thought was healthy for a person.

They were Disney villains, actual Disney villains. They didn't look animated or cartoony, but real. Some of their proportions may have been off, but it wasn't as if Lindsey had never seen big ears or an exaggerated chin before. Their normal appearance was probably why it had taken her so long to realize who they were.

"I'm insane," said Lindsey. That had to be the only explanation. Her dreams had never been this vivid, so the only other option had to be insanity. Whoever heard of being kidnapped by Disney villains? They weren't even real!

Her outburst seemed to have caught their attention, because they stopped their bickering and looked at her.

"I'm insane," she repeated. "That's the only explanation, you can't be real... none of this can be real."

"It's real, sweet cheeks, I'm just as real as you are," replied Hades.

"No," said Lindsey as she started to shake her head, "No it's not... it can't be."

Before any of the villains could say anything, Lindsey pushed her past them, and took off running down the hallway. Her bare feet thudded on the stone floor as she continued to run through the twists and turns of what she was realizing was a very large castle. Corridor after corridor unfolded before her, all dimly light and gloomy as the last. Several times she ran into dead-ends and had to back-track before finding a new one to run down.

Lindsey didn't even really know what she was looking for, just that there had to be a way out. A way out of the castle, a way of this dream or insanity, a way back into the real world- if she could just_ find_ it. After running down several flights of stairs, she came to a wooden door. It looked just like all the other doors she had passed, and she would have continued running if it hadn't been for the cold air she felt on her feet.

The suddeness of it, caused her to come to a halt and look around for the source. A slight breeze was coming from under the door, which could mean only one thing- it was a door to the outside, not to some gloomy room. She had tried to open several doors during her mad dash, but all had been either locked or revealed just another dark and gloomy room. None had air drifting under them.

Excited by her discovery, she opened the door and gasped. Outside the castle were large, dreary mountains, that looked just as gloomy as inside the castle, however it was a doom and gloom Lindsey welcomed. The sky above though dark and depressing, was a glorious sight to behold for it meant that Lindsey had finally escaped the castle and could perhaps make her way to civilization and sanity.

She still had some running to do- the castle was apparently located high on an island. Instead of being surrounded by water, it was surrounded by air- it appeared that the the mountains surrounded a large valley which was dotted by houses and buildings, and in turn surrounded the land the castle was situated on. Lindsey doubted the set-up was natural, it was too good of a defense to not be man-made.

The time to ponder the creation was something she could do later, at the moment she needed to find a way off of the rock island. Surely there had to be some way for people to leave the castle, after all they couldn't just fly. Then again, if it was truly Maleficent's castle, perhaps she just turned into a dragon and flew away...

But there were other people at the castle-Hades,Ursula, the Queen, Gothel... not all of them could turn into dragons and fly away...

Lindsey rounded a corner, and saw a bridge to her right. It was rickety, old, and didn't appear as if was capable of supporting the weight of a feather, let alone her. Summing up her courage, Lindsey decided the best way to cross it was to do so like those people who walked barefoot on beds of hot coals- run as fast as possible and pray.

Once she made it to the other side, Lindsey didn't even bother to stop or pay attention to the dirt on her feet or the rocks and twigs that poked her- she just kept running away from the castle and toward freedom.

* * *

If Lindsey would have looked backed toward the castle, she would have noticed several figures gathered around one of the higher windows, watching her run away. The bridge wasn't always lowered- Maleficent had given the order while Lindsey was busy trying to find her way out of the maze of hallways and corridors.

"After all the trouble we went through to get her here, why are we letting her escape?" demanded Ursula.

Gothel responded with a smile on her face. "To teach her a lesson- let her see how horrible the heroes are once they learn who she is. Then she'll be more than happy to come running back into our open arms."

Maleficent smirked. "Gothel is right for once," the smile on Gothel's face turned into frown, but she knew better than to argue with Maleficent- unlike Ursula and Hades, she had no magic to fight back with. "Right now she thinks that we are mere figments of her imagination, let it be the heroes who convince her otherwise. Grimhilde, keep an eye on her with that mirror of yours. She's bound to get into trouble with the heroes, and will need to be saved. Then she'll have no choice but to help us."

"Besides," said Hades with a smirk, "It's not like she can really go home."

* * *

When Lindsey finally stopped running, she found herself in a forest.

While her gym teachers would finally have been proud of her for finally putting forth some effort, Lindsey's endurance had less to do with being physically fit and more to do with the adrenaline that was being pumped throughout her body. Once again, Lindsey's flight response had served her well- the castle was nowhere in sight, and neither were the villains.

Why they didn't chase after her or prevent her escape was a mystery, but Lindsey had other concerns. Like how her feet hurt so bad she had to sit down against a tree. That then caused her legs to start cramping up. With that going on, Lindsey was still trying to catch her breath, slow her heartbeat down to the point where she could no longer hear it, and figure out what to do next.

"Hello again."

Lindsey turned her head in every direction to find the source of the voice before her eyes spotted something right above her that didn't belong in any forest she knew of- pink and purple fur. Like the villains he didn't seem animated or CGI. He appeared more like one of Sidney's plushies than a real cat, but Lindsey found herself preferring his plush appearance. Anything else would have been creepy.

The Cheshire Cat was one of the few characters she was able to recognize instantly, despite having to crane her neck up to get a good look at him.

"I'm insane, I'm mad..." she muttered. First the villains, and now this?

The Cheshire Cat tilted his head and regarded her with a curious expression across his face. "And what precisely, is wrong with that?"

"What's wrong with it?" cried Lindsey. "What's wrong with it, is that you don't exist, you can't exist! I don't believe in you!"

"Just because you refuse to believe in something, doesn't mean it'll stop existing... unless you're a pixie, which I assure you I am not."

Lindsey slumped back against the tree. The cat had a point- it seemed as though no matter how much she denied where she was, she was stuck there. She might as well treat it like it was real before her denial caused her any serious harm.

"What do you want?" Lindsey was unsure of what else to ask the cat. From the little she could remember of Alice in Wonderland, asking for directions was useless, she'd probably end up more confused about her whereabouts than what she already knew.

"You know, most people by now ask for directions, but not you, never you, because you're not lost."

"Aren't you supposed to be talking in nonsense and riddles?"

"If you would prefer it, I can. Not everybody here is who you think they are. I'm me, and not me."

Lindsey scrunched up her face in confusion, regretting asking what happened to all the riddles and nonsense. She had forgotten how much she had hated that part of the movie.

"That's not possible."

"Anything's possible, nothing is impossible... perhaps impassible, but not impossible. Oh look, you're about to be found even though you're not lost."

To her left she could hear the sound of footsteps, and could see figures approaching. She looked back to the Cheshire Cat who was quickly disappearing from his perch above her.

With only his mouth visible he said, "Goodbye not-lost girl."

By the time he had finished his last sentence, any trace of the Cheshire Cat was gone, and Lindsey was standing up rubbing the back of her neck. Maybe whoever it was coming toward her could help her get home, or figure out where she was.

Three soldiers appeared before her on horses. Unused to hearing the sound of hooves, Lindsey had mistaken the horses for people. The blonde in the middle who was riding a white horse, spoke first.

"This is why we have patrols. The disturbance on the other side of the kingdom was clearly a diversion so they could sneak pass our borders through the other side."

"I'm sorry, what?"

He looked down at her from his position above her on his horse.

"Either you're a clever plot designed by the villains to trick me with your innocent appearance, or you're a one of their refugees. I don't care know which, but I intend to find out. Tie her up and we'll take her back to the castle for interrogation."

"Interrogation? Who do you think-"

Lindsey didn't get a chance to ask any more questions due to the gag being shoved into her mouth. Before she knew it, her ankles and wrists were bound with rope, and she had been tossed like a sack of potatoes over a horse. The blonde hadn't even been the one to do it, instead his two stooges that didn't speak had tossed over one of the horses before she could even blink.

Compared to her situation earlier, being trapped in a castle with villains suddenly didn't seem as bad.

At least she didn't have to walk or run anywhere this time.

****Author's Note****

I'd like to thank Daydreamer747, Starswim, Galimatias, and Michaelaquinn for reviewing! Reviews are always appreciated, and I will reply to reviews. I'd also like to thank everybody who favorited or put the story on alert.

Next chapter will feature a reunion between Sidney and Lindsey, along with more details about the prophecy, heroes vs. villains, etc... some of which was hinted at in this chapter.

For anybody interested, the definition of a garderobe varies depending on the time and location. Basically it's a small room with a toilet, sometimes used as storage since it was believed that ammonia would protect clothing from fleas. If it wasn't the need to get Lindsey out of the room and to explore the castle, I would never spent so much time reading about medieval toilets and waste systems, and having to think about what kind of sanitation system Maleficent's castle would have. I tried not to spend a lot time on the details in this chapter, but I do have more. PM me or ask in a review if you really want to know. I've always been obsessed with the little details whenever I read/watch something and I'm also a civil engineer, which is a bad combination sometimes. It leads to things like figuring out Maleficent's sanitation system.

I'll shut up now. Thanks for reading, and if possible, leave a review!


	4. Meet and Greets

I do not own the rights to anything Disney. This chapter is now updated.

**Meet and Greets**

School was out. Finally.

Another year gone, another summer to spend in her own Disney World. No more worrying about homework, tests, or passing classes. No more worrying about spending too much time in Disney, and too little time in the Real World.

Usually the bridge would take her back just a couple hours after she left- despite spending days in Disney. Although once during her freshman year she had made the mistake of not leaving Disney for months, only to find that almost a week had passed in the Real World. Having always been told by the Blue Fairy and Merlin that the bridge would take her back when she most needed to return, Sidney could only assume that it was a warning of some sort- spend too much time here without going home, and too much time will pass there. Some quick thinking on her part managed to convince her parents that she had pulled several all-nighters in the library, and stayed with friends on campus rather than driving home in the dark tired. As for her teachers, she managed to convince them that her sister had caused some family emergency.

Nobody questioned her stories, for she was Sidney Yates, sister to the infamous Lindsey Yates. Lindsey would most certainly lie, but Sidney? Of course not.

She felt bad for lying, she really did. But how else was she supposed to explain? That she had spent too much time in a world that everybody once told her wasn't real? If she did that, then she'd be the twin with issues. Instead, she made sure to never spend more than a week in Disney without returning home. She never had an issue with too much time passing by in the Real World since that one time, confirming her theory that it had been the result of spending too much time in Disney.

If she could, she'd stay there forever, never to return home again. Except she had parents that would miss her, and a sister that she hoped would miss her. Whenever she brought up the subject to the Blue Fairy, she would receive a stern look and lecture about how important family was, and how Sidney wasn't technically a part of the Disney World. Yet.

Sidney would always tack on the last part in her mind, for she hoped to be part of it officially someday. Someday when she had graduated from college, when she could claim she found a job halfway around the world that would make it hard to return home. It was cruel, Sidney knew, leaving her parents with Lindsey. It was crueler though for them to have a daughter whose heart belonged somewhere else.

Over the years it had gotten harder and harder to return home. Once there her feet were always itching to cross back over the bridge to her own secret world. To continue her magic and hero training, see her real friends like the princesses, go on adventures with Roland. It was so hard to muddle through the boring Real World everyday when there was a magical, more exciting one just waiting for her to return. One where she was a hero, and beloved by all.

Who could resist such a powerful temptation?

Especially where Sidney was now, in the Rose Garden of Princess Aurora, or as she preferred to be called by Sidney, Rose. Huge bushes with beautiful roses dotted the garden. They had originally been white roses, imported all the way from Wonderland. The Queen and residents may be known for being mad, but they were also known for their extravagant flowers that couldn't be found elsewhere. With the help of the fairies other types had been bred- pink, blue, and Sidney's personal favorite, red.

It was such a gorgeous summer day, that Sidney had fidgeted in her seat during her magic lessons. Merlin had eventually noticed and suggested they move the lesson to outside in the Rose Garden, knowing how much she loved the place.

For magic, Sidney had two main teachers- Merlin and the Blue Fairy. Genie, the Fairy Godmother, and the three fairies that had raised Rose would drop by occasionally for a lesson or two. However, it was the Blue Fairy and Merlin who taught Sidney the most.

Merlin was a lot of things.

Some might call him a daft crazy old man, or the most brilliant wizard of his time. Sidney personally preferred the Blue Fairy's lessons over Merlin's- he was a bit too showy for her taste. Using nonsensical rhyming words wasn't actually necessary to perform magic. What was absolutely necessary was some sort of magical conduit such as a wand, or staff. Sidney had learned early on into her lessons that the Fairy Godmother and Merlin mainly used words to impress the people around them and to add to their mystique.

Despite his showmanship, he had always been able to figure out when something was wrong with Sidney and what should be done to help her. He might take his time and ramble on about unrelated topics, but he would notice after a while. The Blue Fairy would have noticed Sidney's distracted mind sooner, but instead of taking her outside to the garden, would have threatened to end the lesson unless Sidney focused on her lesson. That was the difference between their two styles- Merlin was showy and fun, and the Blue Fairy was stern and serious.

When she was younger, Sidney had once asked why she wasn't kinder and more understanding like how she was in Pinocchio. The Blue Fairy had responded that she was kind and patient, but she many things to do, and couldn't be expected to waste her time on a student who wasn't serious about learning the material.

In a way, Sidney understood her point. From classes with Lindsey, Sidney had often picked up on their teacher's frustration whenever Lindsey was caught not paying attention in class or acting like the class clown. Sidney supposed that patience and kindness was required with inattentive students, and rather than letting her nerves get frazzled, she'd simply quit teaching for the day. Sidney was so afraid of disappointing the Blue Fairy, that she would try her best to redirect her attention and concentrate on the lesson before her, no matter how beautiful it was outside.

Though, days like today, she was grateful it was Merlin teaching her magic, instead of the Blue Fairy. She didn't know if she'd be able to concentrate inside, even for the Blue Fairy.

Magic was just one of her many lessons. There was also fencing with Peter Pan, swordsmanship with Prince Phillip, martial arts with Mulan and Shang, history and geography with Belle and Cogsworth. There were so many things that Sidney was required to know, and despite having lessons since she was ten, she still didn't think she would ever be properly prepared for the upcoming war.

The upcoming war that featured her as the hero, pitted against her sister and the villains. When Sidney was ten, she was first told about the prophecy, her role, and the need for all the lessons. By that point Lindsey had long since stopped visiting the Disney World, but everybody had assured her that Lindsey would be back someday, at which time Sidney would need to be ready to lead the heroes to victory.

Sidney had often pointed out what was the point in learning lessons when Lindsey had long since stopped believing in magic, and might not even return. Roland, Phillip's younger brother and Sidney's best friend would reply that they should consider themselves lucky, for it meant that a victory would be that much easier to secure.

She loved Roland, really she did. Whenever lessons got to be too much he knew just how to distract her by taking her out riding across the countryside, or taking her to Belle's huge library full of books just begging to be read, or to Eric's castle where she could talk to the mermaids. There had even be a couple times when they had snuck into Wonderland, and nearly had their heads chopped off. Roland always assured that nobody actually had their heads chopped off, they were always pardoned by the King and the cards knew better than to take the Queen too seriously.

However she disagreed on the victory being easy part. It was true, but felt so, so... _wrong_. Taking advantage of an unarmed opponent was cheating in Sidney's opinion and was such a villain thing to do. She wasn't a villain, she was a hero. Heroes didn't cheat even when their villains did, they always fought fair and square. That was what differentiated them from villains, and that was why they always won- because justice was on their side.

Over the years, Sidney had tried her best to prepare Lindsey. She encouraged her to join different activities, go to different trade schools- anything to grow an interest in something that might give her an edge in the war and make her a worthy opponent for Sidney. But no matter what Lindsey did, she remained unmotivated, underachieving, partying, Lindsey. Their parents weren't much help, having given up long ago.

In recent years, Sidney had begun to sympathize with their way of thinking, and had stopped encouraging Lindsey to try or learn different things.

After all, what was the point in preparing to fight somebody, who refused to fight at all?

* * *

_I hate horses._

That was the main thought running through Lindsey's mind as she was being taken to God Knows Where.

_I hate their smell, their size, their uncomfortableness, their neighing, their fur, their size..._

Hating the horses was a way to distract her mind from what was going on. It prevented unpleasant thoughts such as the fact that she was at the mercy of three strange guys while dressed in a nightgown, which honestly had never happened to her before. Or the fact that everything was just too real to be a dream which meant she was actually in some sort of weird Disney universe or that she was surrounded by people who were convinced that they were characters from Disney. Either explanation wasn't reassuring.

Then there was the fact that she could really, _really_ use a drink about now. She doubted any of her abductors had alcohol on them, or would be willing to share with her.

When she ran out of things to hate about the horses, she moved onto observing her abductors and figuring out some sort of plan. Interrogation didn't sound pleasant no matter what world you were in. Even worse if it meant that her abductors were crazy obsessed Disney fans.

Lindsey tried to think of the different interrogation tactics that she knew of- most of which came from her knowledge of television. Good cop and bad cop, which Lindsey wouldn't mind since she didn't do anything wrong- for once. She was pretty sure being kidnapped by villains and escaping wasn't a crime. What stood out in her mind though were those medieval torture chambers- Lindsey had never been a huge fan of pain, and knew that she wouldn't last long with that form of interrogation.

Surely, her abductors weren't that crazy or cruel? Then again, she really didn't know that much about her abductors.

Her own personal abductor she really didn't know much about. He wasn't much of a talker (the one time he had tried to talk, the blonde had told him to shut up, there was no need to provide anymore information than was necessary for the prisoner), and the only thing she could see was his leg and foot which didn't really reveal much about him. From the fabric and design she could tell that he took his role playing seriously or that he just liked to dress old-fashioned and fancy.

The blonde from earlier, who was in the middle of the three and to her left/front, she was able to tell the most about. It helped that he kept sneaking glances back at her from his position in the front of the trio. His face would alternate between frowning and looking confused whenever he looked at her. It was rather distracting, and took away from his otherwise handsome appearance.

If they had met under other circumstances, Lindsey would have been flirting with him. The perfect blonde hair parted gently to the side, the perfect sparkling eyes, and that perfect charming smile. It was enough to make any girl weak at the knees. The more she studied him and his perfect appearance, Lindsey was reminded of the Ken dolls she and her sister would play with when they were younger. Pretty to look at and dress up, but ultimately not as exciting as her toys that made noises and could actually do things.

While he was pretty to look at, he was also very dressed up. She may not have been able to identify the style or what everything was, but Lindsey had managed to figure out that he was the most important person there. It wasn't just that his clothes looked fancier, but was also in the way he held himself, the way the the other two seemed to be following his lead.

This was good news for Lindsey. If he was the leader, the other two abductors including her own were nothing but followers and therefore could be manipulated once she got the chance. With the right looks and words they could be putty in her hands once they were away from their leader. She may not have a weapon to fight back with, but she did have experience getting guys to do stuff for her from changing a flat tire to buying her a drink.

Plan in mind, Lindsey turned her attention to the dirt road beneath her. Starring down required less effort than starring ahead at the horse next to her, or to the side at the blonde. It was just less exciting.

A dirt road was... a dirt road. Simple and extremely boring. The occasional weed, pebble, or small ditch was a welcomed sight. Pretty soon though, the dirt road turned to gravel, and then to stone. Stone was good, very good. The only reason for the dirt road to turn into stone was because something big was nearby, something that required sturdy roads to handle traffic.

While it meant that their destination was most likely close by, so was the interrogation.

Maybe Lindsey would get lucky and some townsperson would demand her abductors to release her and return her home. Maybe at any second they'd scream 'gotcha' and reveal it was all just an elaborate prank.

Then again, considering how her day had gone so far, her luck seemed to have run out.

* * *

Or not.

Merlin was currently lecturing Sidney on the importance of visualization and specification when teleporting, or as Sidney kept calling it silently, apparating. For as the saying apparently went, 'It is better to take a few more seconds to concentrate, or you might end up with your elbows for knees in the middle of a lake.'

Sidney refrained from asking where the saying originated- she learned over the years that sometimes it was much better to nod and accept a lecture rather than ask for Merlin to explain some obscure reference. The last time she had done so had earned her a twenty minute lecture about his trip to Atlantis- which wasn't always lost, and wouldn't always be lost (though she already knew _that_). If the Blue Fairy hadn't shown up when she did, Merlin would have most likely drone on for another hour. Sidney supposed that he liked referencing stuff around her so much because she was one of the few people that actually understood his references to the future.

Teleportation was one of the three advanced T's of magic- Transformation, Teleportation, and Time-Travel. Of the three, transformation was the easiest to master, and was where most magic-users stopped. Teleportation and time-travel were harder to master since they required more theory and concentration. Even with her nine years of magical study, it'd still be a few more before Sidney would be capable of performing the spells successfully. The only reason why Merlin was going over the material in the first place was because he didn't have access to the material the Blue Fairy had been teaching Sidney.

It was when he repeated the teleporting quote for a second time, that Sidney began to suspect that his mind might be wandering just as much as hers was. He loved sharing quotes or showing off his extensive knowledge, but repeating something twice meant losing the opportunity to tell one new fact. Something that was unheard of for him.

"Is everything alright?" Sidney asked partly concerned, and partly out of anticipation for the lesson to be over.

"Yes, yes, just distracted by this morning's events. I'm afraid that's all for today, we'll have to continue our lesson tomorrow."

On the inside, Sidney was cheering, but thought it'd be inappropriate to let out a squeal of delight- that was just the sort of thing Lindsey would do, and would no doubt only hurt Merlin's feelings. Instead she patted him reassuringly on the hand.

"Don't worry," she said, "Everything will be alright, the Blue Fairy will see to it."

Sidney knew of the events that Merlin was talking about and knew she should be worried. She should be panicked even, but she wasn't. Maybe it was just some sort of sign that this was the way things were meant to be, and Sidney was perfectly alright with that. She wouldn't dare tell Merlin that she hoped the Blue Fairy couldn't see to it though.

Merlin smiled at her warmly. "You know dear, there are things that even the Blue Fairy cannot do."

Sidney was saved from responding when Archimedes landed on the garden table between them. "Prince Roland has returned to the castle, and with a prisoner."

At the mention of Roland's name, a wide smile appeared on her face. It quickly disappeared at the mention of a prisoner. What exactly did that mean? Had his patrol actually managed to capture one of the villains? For years, the various royal families had placed bounties on the heads of the villains, and had managed to find most of their hiding spots, but a few still remained.

Like Hook's ship. Ever since Peter Pan had enchanted it with Pixie Dust years ago, it had gained the ability to fly, which Hook used to attack the heroes from above. Over the years other villains had joined him and his crew when their own homes were destroyed. According to their latest intel, Mim was the latest member. Peter and his band of Lost Boys had come close to taking the ship several times, but with Mim and Jafar's magic, Hook kept managing to avoid them.

The other main refuge for villains was Maleficent's castle and the land surrounding it. It was here that many of the lesser villains had sought refuge, including the various people who had become associated with villains over the year. The Great Forest divided the Mountains from Aurora's kingdom- along with many of the others.

The last refuge for villains was the Underworld where Hades resided. Despite being responsible for many of their returns, none had actually stuck around to stay. Sidney couldn't say she blamed them.

There was Wonderland of course, which was located in the heart of the Great Forest. It was rumored that one could reach Wonderland through a series of tunnels the White Rabbit had dug, if one was to stumble upon them. Most people didn't intentionally seek them out for the same reason both heroes and villains avoided Wonderland- the residents there were just too _crazy_. You never knew which side they were on, and something was just as likely to eat you as you were to eat it. Nothing made sense other than nonsense.

If it wasn't for the flower trade, Sidney doubted that any sort of trade at all would be done with Wonderland, especially with the Queen of Hearts always threatening to cut off the heads of the merchants brave (or more likely greedy) enough to venture into Wonderland. Not that she ever managed to behead them- she'd quickly forget, and the King of Hearts would always pardon her victims. There was still the chance that he might not always be around to save somebody in time.

"More likely its some unfortunate fellow that happened to get lost in the woods and into Roland's path," commented Merlin.

Merlin could be right, Sidney supposed. It wouldn't be the first time Roland had mistaken somebody for a villain in his zealous quest to track them down. Being the younger brother of a prince was hard enough, but it was harder when your older brother was famous for defeating Maleficent and being married to Sleeping Beauty. When they were younger, Roland had often confided in Sidney that he felt like he had a chip on his shoulder; that he had to prove to the world that he was just as good as his brother. The quest to prove himself had sometimes gotten him into trouble in the past, but he had always meant well. That was one of the reasons why Sidney loved him so much- he was always trying to do the right thing. Even if it meant jumping to conclusions.

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong," smirked Archimedes, proud to know something that Merlin obviously didn't. He puffed out his feathered chest and said, "For it's not a fellow, but a _girl. _One that looks very similar to Sidney here, except for the hair. Looks like a carrot with that hair..."

A girl that looked like her, with orange hair? Sidney knew somebody that could fit that description quite well, but it couldn't be. Lindsey had stopped believing in Disney a long time ago, she wouldn't even cross the bridge. What was Roland doing with her?

A horrified thought occurred to her. Archimedes had said Roland had a prisoner, and if that prisoner was actually Lindsey...

She leaped to her feet and started to run to the front of the castle yelling, "Roland, Roland!" as loud as she could. She hoped she'd be able to reach in time before he made any serious mistakes that couldn't be undone.

Sidney hadn't bothered to say goodbye or explain what was going on to Merlin or Archimedes. Watching her leave Archimedes let out a huff of disapproval. "I say, that was rather rude, the way she just took off without any explanation."

Merlin simply sighed. "It's the beginning. What more of an explanation do you need?"

* * *

Miles away, a former evil queen watched a scene unfold on her magic mirror. The spell which made it work had undergone some changes in the past several years. Rhymes were no longer necessary in order to obtain information. With the new modifications it now acted very similar to a mirror that was given to the Beast- one merely had to state what one wished to see, and it would appear on the mirror.

Grimhilde approved of the changes. If the mirror had operated in such a manner years ago, matters concerning a certain fair princess might have gone very differently.

She did not know the castle were the scene was taking place, but from the people present, she was in confident in guessing that it belonged to another princess that was famed for her beauty and had fallen into an enchanted sleep.

The villain who had caused the sleep stepped beside Grimhilde, studying the scene just as intently as Grimhilde was. Grimhilde spared one side-long glance for her companion before returning her gaze to the image.

"I see you have your pet again," commented Grimhilde regarding the feathered raven that was currently perched on Maleficent's shoulder.

"Yes," Maleficent replied as she stroked Diablo. "Yours has yet to return though."

"Still hiding for the same reason yours was. Tremaine was by earlier casting about for any crumbs of information she could gather. Wherever she goes, so does that accursed cat of hers."

"Indeed, a very appropriately named cat for the way he acts. Interesting," said Maleficent referring to what was going on in the mirror. The girl who had fled from the villains earlier was currently being led into the castle in chains. Her legs wobbled causing her to trip and fall down. Grimhilde was about to ask if it was time for the villains to intefere, but Maleficent held up a hand to silence her.

"Not yet, look who's coming to her rescue. It's her dear sister, the hero. Oh, and her prince certainly is most displeased with the recent turn of events. His prisoner has just turned into an uninvited guest."

Grimhilde frowned. "Isn't this the opposite of what we want? What happened to the heroes mistreating her?"

"All in time, Grimhilde, all in time. For her sweet innocent sister will surely insist upon her hero friends being friendly to her twin. Which, judging by her prince's reaction, won't sit well with most of them. Then, when she's reached her breaking point, we'll swoop in and save the day. For once, we'll be the heroes."

Diablo smirked from under his mistress's touch, understanding her plan. Grimhilde smirked as well. "Us the heroes? Whatever is this world coming to?"

Maleficent continued preening Diablo. "Haven't you heard? There's a new girl in town, supposed to bring about a great change, an age of darkness or so they say. Surely the villains becoming the heroes is the first sign of her success."

* * *

"That, is the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

Lindsey was currently sitting on her sister's couch. It wasn't just an ordinary couch, oh no. It was an oversized, fluffy couch that was much more comfortable than it looked. The second she had sat down, her butt had sunk into the cushions and the pillows on either side threatened to suffocate her with their size. While it was a very soft couch, Lindsey doubted she would ever be able to get off of it since the couch seemed intent on swallowing her whole. It had the decency to be blue instead of green at least. She didn't think she'd be able to stand it if it was green.

After reaching the castle, Lindsey had been expecting being dragged down into some dank dungeon to never be heard from again. Assuming her plan with the followers failed.

Except she never reached the dark dungeons. Due to all of her time on the horse, her legs had forgotten what it meant to walk, and failed her once the blonde put her on the ground. While she was busy trying to instruct her legs on how to walk lest the blonde get impatient and decide to drag her to the castle, a figure managed to break through the crowd that had gathered outside the castle's gates to gawk at the prisoner. Lindsey could have sworn even seeing an owl at one point.

Her disbelief over the owl was interrupted when the figure started to yell at the blonde. The blonde who turned out to be a prince, who also happened to be her sister's boyfriend. Her sister who was also the figure yelling at said boyfriend. The same sister who was now in front of her claiming that the Disney game they had played as children was real, just as real as the world around her. Oh, and there was a prophecy about how Sidney was the hero, Lindsey was the villain, and there was supposed to be some epic fight between them in which only one would come out alive.

Stupid was the only word she could even think of to describe the whole thing.

She was supposed to become a villain and fight her sister just become some old nut-job said so?

Stupid. And anybody who listened to the old bat was stupid as well.

The whole entire thing was stupid.

Once she saw Sidney, believing that everything around her was real and she wasn't crazy was easy. It was the prophecy thing she was having trouble with.

Sidney seemed to be having just as much issue with it as Lindsey was- but for a different reason. She had explained everything several times, and was growing exasperated with her sister's disbelief.

She took a deep breath and decided to give it one last chance. This time she moved to the couch where her sister was, in order to be closer to her. A hard task that required throwing several pillows on the marble floor before being able to talk without having to worry about fabric getting into her mouth.

"When we were little we made a wish on the star to go to the real Disney world. The bridge in our backyard turned into a real bridge. We had adventures and then we were supposed to grow up. You did and stopped visiting, I didn't. With me so far?"

Lindsey nodded. That part was just crazy, not stupid. She could handle crazy, she had for the past day. It was the stupid part she was having issue with.

Sidney continued. "Long ago there was a prophecy, about two sisters from a strange land. One would become a hero, the other a villain. The villain would bring about an age of darkness, and only the hero could defeat her by using the Sword of Destiny to bring about a new age. Only one would emerge alive from the battle."

"So what makes them so sure it's us?"

"Because," stated Sidney trying to remain calm, "Everything fits. Two sisters, check. From a foreign land, check. After you left, I ended up finding the sword in one of our old playing spots."

"And what exactly is the Sword of Destiny again?"

Sidney turned her gaze to an item above the fireplace that was in front of the couch. Lindsey followed it and saw that there was a long sword situated above the fireplace on hooks which were supporting it. Lindsey couldn't say she had seen many swords in her life, but this one seemed so shiny, so sharp. A weapon like that didn't deserve to be placed above a fireplace like a decoration, it deserved to be used in battle. It deserved a place at a soldier's side slaughtering enemies left and right being covered in blood, not covered in dust on a wall in a bedroom. It-

"Lindsey!"

The cry from her sister was enough to startle Lindsey out of her thoughts. With a jolt she realized that she was no longer on the couch, but was in front of the fireplace reaching for the sword. Her right hand was inches away from the handle, ready to lift it off of the hooks that were holding it up.

Sidney had reached her, and was pulling her away from the sword. "The Sword of Destiny is a very old and powerful object, as you just saw. Nobody knows when it was created, or who or why- it's just always been. Whenever a hero needs it, there it is, before disappearing just as quickly again. You might know it as Excalibur, but other heroes have used it as well. Prince Phillip knew it as the Sword of Truth when he used it to kill Maleficent. Both Hercules and Mulan even had it for a while."

Lindsey found it was hard to look away from the sword. There was something about it that seemed to pull her in, all she wanted was just one touch, what was so wrong with that? It probably hadn't been touched for a while, and how it must ache to feel the grip of a human hand to use it-

A strong tug on her arm whirled her around. No longer was she looking at the sword on the wall, but into her sister's hazel eyes, the same as hers.

"So that's what you're going to use to kill me then?"

Sidney was startled by the remark. "No," she cried and shook her head, "_No._" _  
_

She plopped down onto the couch and immediately began to sink into the cushions. Sidney didn't seem to notice for she was too busy burying her head into her hands.

"We're trying to find another way, the Blue Fairy promised me there's another way. We'll have to fight, but there's another way out besides death."

Lindsey yanked her sister's arms away and forced Sidney to look at her.

"There is another way, I'll go home. If I'm there, I can't be here to fight and nobody has to die. See, simple."

Sidney started to shake her head again. "No, no, the villains will just find you again, and bring you back."

Lindsey rolled her eyes. "Look, didn't you say they couldn't go very far from the bridge before losing their magic? Well then, I'll make a dash home and then go somewhere far away like Australia or Antarctica, someplace they can't reach me."

When Lindsey had explained waking up in Maleficent's castle and not being able to remember everything, Sidney and Merlin- for he had made sure to hear her side of things before Roland was able to throw her into the dungeon- they had offered a theory.

When the bridge had first appeared, Merlin and several others had crossed it to see what was on the other side and found that the further away they walked from the bridge, the weaker their magic became. Based on their knowledge of the villains, and what Lindsey had recalled hearing at the castle, Hades had instructed his minions Pain and Panic to trick her into coming near the bridge by transforming themselves into her friends (a trick they were well known for). They then offered her a drink which was actually a sleeping potion in disguise. The reason why her friends seemed to flicker for a few seconds was the fact that their powers were weakened by being away from the bridge.

It was a good theory, one that she already suspected- well the drink being drugged and her being kidnapped part- and even the Hades minions part made sense.

What she loved most of all about the theory was that it meant the villains couldn't follow her very far across the bridge. Sure they could send the human ones, but it's not like they knew how to function in the 21st century or how to find her. It wasn't even like they had the proper identification to chase after her if she decided to travel to another country. She still had her passport from spring break, and what did they have? It wasn't like they could explain to customs that they were actually from another dimension where Disney characters were real. That was assuming they even managed to figure out that she had fled the country in the first place, and had used an airport to do so. Assuming they even knew what an airport _was._

It was a great plan, a wonderful plan- just cross the bridge and go home.

Sidney didn't seem to share Lindsey's enthusiasm.

"Lindsey, are you even listening to yourself? Look outside, the sun's setting, and you've either ran or traveled on a horse for most of the day. You could do with a bath, a decent meal and a good night's sleep."

Seeing Lindsey's doubting look, she added, "Please? The bridge will return you to when you need to be home, no more than a couple hours will have passed."

Lindsey began chewing on her bottom lip, considering what to do.

Sidney added, "You'll have your own rooms and be treated like royalty. Did a mention there's a ball tomorrow night? It's the annual Rose Ball that Rose, or as you know her, Sleeping Beauty, throws at the beginning of the summer every year. It's lots of fun and you could borrow one of my dresses..."

Her voice trailed off, and her eyes were wide and full of hope. They were her puppy dog eyes, the ones that Lindsey could never say no to.

"Fine," she conceded and plopped down onto the couch next to her sister. "Fine, I'll rest and go to the ball, but then it's home, got it?"

"Got it," replied Sidney who gripped her sister tightly in a hug.

"So about this ball... will there be drinks?"

* * *

Anastasia was busy wiping down the bar of LeFou's Tavern. It was one of the many taverns in the town, or whatever their little refugee community was technically called. It was filled with villains, sidekicks, and others deemed 'undesirable' by the heroes. The only choice they had was to live here, at the base of Maleficent's castle in the Forbidden Mountains, or rotting in one of the hero's dungeons for refusing to swear an oath of allegiance to them.

The choice wasn't hard to make.

Swearing an oath to the heroes after everything they had done, was out of the question, especially for somebody like Anastasia who was related to so many villains. Such an oath would mean turning her back on her family. Her mother, her sister, her husband LeFou, his best friend Gaston who had helped build the tavern in the first place and was the godfather to her children.

Working at a tavern was a far cry from the life she had once led, but it was honest work (mostly) and she'd rather be dressed in rags doing chores than begging for forgiveness on her knees in front of Cinderella. Life wasn't _that_ bad despite the turn in their fortunes, and she still had some pride left after all. She was still a Tremaine.

Like many of the people in the town, she knew that Maleficent wasn't letting them live beneath her castle out of the kindness of her heart. They were nothing but shields for her; bodies that would cause noble heroes to think twice about before hacking through them to get to Maleficent. At the most, they were soldiers ready to defend their homes, at the least, they were sacrificial lambs.

She tried not to think too much about that last part. Instead she concentrated on cleaning the tavern to prepare for the night rush, the time when most villains needed a drink. It wasn't just the drinks they came in for though, it was for the news and gossip of what was going on, _out there._

Out there where the heroes were advancing closer and closer, threatening all of their lives. Out there where the bigger and more powerful villains were doing their best to keep the heroes at bay, while waiting for her to arrive.

To the majority of them, she was just a fairy tale, a story that was told to children to keep their nightmares at bay at night. The one thing that kept hope in her arrival was the existence of her sister. If her sister was real, then she must be real as well. Anastasia didn't know why she had turned her back on them, but surely she would come back, someday.

The door to the tavern burst open, and her sister, Drizella shoved her way past the few patrons in the tavern and toward her sister.

"Hello Drizella," murmured Anastasia, not bothering to look up from her spot at the counter.

Drizella barging in was nothing new, and it was usually just to get away from their mother and her new husband, Frollo. Anastasia loved her mother dearly, but couldn't deny that she was a bit of- what was the word? Gold digger. She was attracted to wealth and power, and a judge (albeit former) certainly qualified. Frollo had been looking for a proper wife (rumor had it was mainly to show that he no longer cared for the gypsy). While the couple enjoyed power, wealth, and flaunting it over the have-nots, their resources had gradually been dwindling down to nothing and they had started arguing about who was going to have to get a job.

Leaning forward, Drizella began to whisper after making sure nobody was close enough to overhear the conversation.

"You'll never guess what Mother just heard at the castle. She's here, they actually brought her here!"

The little shriek she let out at the end was rather high, and attracted the attention she had been trying to avoid. Anastasia just sighed and began to sweep the floor. LeFou was due to be back any second now with their children from school, and she hoped that he would remember to wipe their feet before entering the tavern. Then again, it was a tavern, so keeping the floors clean was a fool's hope.

"Did you hear what I said?" demanded Drizella, who tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for some acknowledgement and excitement from her sister.

"Yes I heard you, but it's just a rumor, like usual."

Didn't her sister know any better? It seemed like once a week that rumor was going around- that she was here, the villains were about to win. She'd believe it when she saw it.

"What's just a rumor?" asked LeFou, who had just entered the tavern with their children trailing behind him.

"Mother was at the castle earlier and said that she saw _her_. She's here!" Drizella clapped her hands excitedly, and started to jump up and down.

"And I told her it's just a rumor, like usual," replied Anastasia. She gave a sigh of relief for LeFou had managed to remember to get the children to wipe their feet. Either that, or they had taken extra care not to jump into puddles or mud on their way home, which was highly unlikely given her children.

"But it's not a rumor, Mama," piped up Marius, excited to know something that his mother didn't for once.

Eponine nodded her head in agreement, her red curls bouncing away. "We saw her, on the way to school. She was all dressed in white and was running away from the castle." She frowned and then asked, "Why was she running away Mama? Isn't she supposed to help us?"

Anastasia looked at her children, and then to her sister and husband. The patrons in the bar had gone quiet, no doubt hearing what her daughter had just said and thinking the same thoughts as she was. A girl dressed in white was seen running from the castle. What could that mean? Was it really her, or just false hope? And why was she running away from the castle?

Deciding to get some answers, Anastasia thrust the broom at her sister who gaped at her in horror. "Take the broom and do what LeFou tells you to Drizella," said Anastasia pretending not to notice the awkward stare her sister was giving her. Looking at LeFou she said, "Manage the tavern and look after the children. Eponine and Marius, mind your father. I'm going to get some answers."

She kissed her husband, and her children, and walked out of the tavern door before anybody could stop her. There was one person she knew that would have the correct information and be willing to talk to her. But first she had a stop to make.

****Author's Note****

I'd like to thank Daydreamer747, Starswim, Galimatias, Michaelaquinn, and Whispurrs for leaving reviews. Reviews are always welcomed feedback and I like knowing what people think of my stories.

This time just good news. I'm no longer sick, the chapter is now completed and it's the longest chapter I've ever written.

Next chapter is the ball, for what sort of Disney story would this be without some sort of ball/dance? Lindsey will meet an old friend and a new one, and the chapter has a strong possibility of ending on a cliff-hanger depending on how long it ends up being.

I don't know if you caught it, but there was a reference to a future Disney movie. Just because I'm not including some of the more modern movies, doesn't mean I won't sneak in a reference here and there.

As for Anastasia and LeFou, the pairing just popped into my head when I started planning this story and I decided to go with it. Both are minor characters that seem under appreciated by the villains they know, and both Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast originated in France. The same goes for Lady Tremaine and Frollo. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is also French, and I could see them marrying out of a desire for power, and allying against the more powerful villains.

That's all for now. If you have any questions regarding anything in this chapter, leave them in a review. I'll either respond in a PM, or include something in the next chapter. Thanks for reading, and if possible, please leave a review!


	5. Someone Old, Someone New

I don't own the rights to anything Disney. Next update: January 27th. If you haven't read the last chapter which was updated last Sunday, I highly recommend you do so to fully understand what's going on this chapter.

**Someone Old, Someone New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue**

The sun was setting and soon it would be dark. That meant she'd have to wait till tomorrow to finish the second half of her mission. Climbing up some crumbling stone stairs on a mountain side, in the dark, with her arms full was not the smartest thing she could do. That would have to wait until the next day, but for now she could get the first part done.

The building she entered was smaller than LeFou's. However it was meant to be an actual shop where people came in and out quickly, and not a place for people to stay for hours like the tavern.

Originally it had started out as Yzma's Potion Shop. Shortly after it opened, Kronk had managed to convince Yzma to let him have some space for his baked goods. Soon after it became apparent that people were more interested in Kronk's cooking than Yzma's potion making. Begrudgingly, she decreased her potion space and increased Kronk's. Money was still money after all, and at least it still had her name on the outside.

Kronk was nice to everybody, Yzma however resented the villains at Maleficent's castle for demeaning her potion skills and lack of magic. Rather than put up with the insults to her skill, she had moved to the city below the castle.

Unfortunately for Anastasia, this meant Yzma might not be that pleased with the intended recipient of her purchase. Kronk was trusting by nature, it was Yzma she had to worry about, especially since she very rarely visited the shop when LeFou was responsible for all the food at the tavern.

Fortunately for Anastasia, she had learned lying and manipulation as a child from her mother. She might have changed from the selfish girl she used to be, but that didn't mean she was above becoming that girl again when she needed to be.

* * *

Four times that night Lindsey woke up in a cold sweat. She had been dreaming, but what of, she couldn't remember. No matter when she woke up from her dreams, she could never remember much- just a feeling of fear and anxiety. Drinking before bed usually numbed her enough to prevent any disturbing dreams. Except last night when her glass of wine failed her.

Unable to go back to sleep after waking up again, Lindsey gave in and got up. The sun was just peeking over the horizon and its rays were starting to creep into her room. Normally, the only way she'd be up that early was if it was for an early class that she couldn't take later in the day or year. Sidney had always been the early riser, not her.

Then again, when in the past day had anything actually been normal? Normal, it seemed, had abandoned her for the time being- hopefully it wouldn't be forever.

The marble floor had felt cool on her bare feet, just like her room in Maleficent's castle. This room was smaller than that one, and smaller than Sidney's, but Lindsey didn't mind. The color scheme was much better- creams and yellows rather than greens and blues. The best part was it had a washroom attached complete with a garderobe, basin for hands, and a large tub.

The downside was that the tub wasn't attached to plumbing, and depended on servants filling it for her who took forever the night before after she was done talking to Sidney and wanted a hot bath. So long that by the time they were finished, Lindsey was forced to take a bath in cold water. If she wanted to do that, she could have found a river or spring, or whatever it was regular people did here. They surely had to bathe, right? There was no way any of the Disney princesses managed to snag their princes by smelling bad.

She had even offered to help, but the servants had stiffly declined her offer, stating that she was a guest. It was the tone of their voice that clued her in that her cold water might have been on purpose. The way they tripped and stumbled, spilling water here and there, missing part of the tub when pouring it in. One servant had even managed to spill a little on her when walking into the room, and the temperature was the same as the room.

There were other incidents too. The fact that her dinner, breakfast, and lunch had all been served cold while Sidney's had been so hot she had to blow on it a couple times before it was cool enough to eat. Then there was the couple times when food had been spilled on her, accidentally of course.

Either the servants at the castle were a bunch of incompetent klutzes or they just hated her. Judging by how they treated everybody else- her sister, Sleeping Beauty (despite being told to call her Rose or Aurora, she was still Sleeping Beauty in Lindsey's head), Prince Phillip, the king and queen, and even Roland- it was the latter.

When she had mentioned it to Sidney, she was told she was just imagining things. Sidney laughed it off, and Lindsey did too for a while. Until her room had mysteriously become locked after she tried opening it when she was done with lunch. She had figured a nice nap would do her some good in preparation for the ball later that night and make up for her lack of sleep the night before. It wasn't supposed to start till seven, but Sidney said she would come by at four so they could start getting ready.

Lindsey had never needed three hours to get ready for a party before in her life, but then again she had never been to a ball before. School dances yes, plenty of times, but from the way Sidney talked prom had nothing on a royal ball. At least at prom she never had to worry about people hating her because of some stupid prophecy that said she was some super mega villain.

When she had found her door locked, nobody had been around to ask. Just when she thought she had found somebody at last, they would claim to be busy, or not know what to do. In the end, one of Sleeping Beauty's fairies- the red one, she never had managed to keep them straight as a child- had to resort to unlocking the door with magic and placing a spell on the doorknob to recognize her to prevent future incidents.

Although she was nice enough, Lindsey noticed the sidelong looks the fairy would give her, and the surprise on her face when the door had revealed a normal bedroom instead of an evil lair. Lindsey had barely been there for a day, surely it took longer than a day to create a sanctum of doom.

The incident had confirmed her fears though- that everybody around her save her sister expected her to start wearing black, grow some fangs and start cackling evilly at any given moment. You knew things were bad when even a Disney fairy didn't have any faith in you.

She spent the rest of the afternoon in her room alternating between napping and simply vegging out until Sidney would arrive at four. No she was not being a coward and using her room as a sanctuary to avoid dealing with people. She was just, resting and taking advantage of the quiet.

Or so she told herself.

The silence was comforting enough that she had managed to nod off and was actually having a pleasant dream for once, something involving a ship of some kind. It was relaxing right up till the point when the Cheshire Cat decided to turn her stomach into its materializing spot, or whatever what he did was called.

"Hello again, Not-Lost Girl," he said, as if it appearing out of thin air on top of a person was an ordinary day occurrence. Knowing him, it probably was. On the bright side, he wasn't heavier than a regular normal cat which he most certainly wasn't.

"Hello," Lindsey replied cautiously. The last time they had 'chatted' Lindsey was left feeling confused and dazed, and oh yeah, captured. Who knew how this one might end?

The Cheshire Cat either didn't notice or didn't care that she wasn't thrilled to see him. His tail swished back and forth slowly, and he had an innocent look on his face. For a second Lindsey was tempted to reach up and pet him like a normal cat. Then a wide grin appeared ruining that illusion. His face was so close to hers, that she almost said, 'My what big teeth you have'. If he opened up his mouth to gobble her up like the wolf tried to do Little Red Riding Hood.

Was there a Disney version of Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf?

Alright, that was a random thought. Here she was with the Cheshire Cat on her chest and she was wracking her brain trying to remember if there was a red-hooded girl among the list of Disney movies. The television show _Once Upon a Time's_ version didn't count despite the many Disney references it contained. She had already met the Wicked Queen and Maleficent who were nothing like their Once counterparts.

Instead of opening his mouth and eating her, he opened it and talked- destroying the illusion of being normal once more.

"I see that you have been found."

"Yes, I have..." The cat may not have been too heavy, but he still weighed enough that he was starting to hurt and making it hard to breathe. Wanting the conversation to end as quickly as possible, she asked, "Why exactly are you here? Is there something you want from me?"

Her question seemed to amuse him though for he rolled over onto his back and let out a big sigh. To her horror, his head didn't change positions like his body, it just continued to grin at her. While not being able to completely see the rest of his body, the tail which had been swishing about on her left side was now on her right. Just knowing the impossibility and wrongness of having his head on backwards was enough to make her feel queasy. The pressure on her stomach was not helping the feeling.

"I'm supposed to tell you something important... now if I can just remember what it was... my mind tends to wander off you see."

As he said the last part, his mind did wander off... off of his _head._ Watching it hover above her was a bit too much, and she closed her eyes tightly. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad if she didn't have to see him.

"Ah, now I remember. Don't take the T."

"The T?" she repeated. "What does that mean, don't take the T?"

"The T that's not a T, don't take it."

Lindsey swore under her breath at the cat. Were all cats as annoying as this, or just him? Perhaps it was a conspiracy...

"That doesn't make sense, what does it even mean?"

"I don't know, you're the one who told it to me."

"That doesn't even make sense!" she exclaimed and sat up suddenly.

"What doesn't make sense?"

The reply didn't come from the cat, but from her sister in the doorway who had apparently just arrived with an armful of poofy dresses for the ball. No doubt the Cheshire Cat had pulled a Houdini on Lindsey _again_ before her sister entered her room.

"Um," began Lindsey, unsure of what to say.

From the way her sister reacted last night to the part of her tale when the Cheshire Cat visited her, it might not be the smartest thing to tell her that she was visited again, barely a day later. Sidney didn't react badly, she was just confused. Apparently the cat rarely left Wonderland, though he did seem to enjoy perplexing the humans he came across. One visit from the cat was rare enough, what would her sister say to two?

So she lied. Sort of.

"How Phillip and Slee-I mean Aurora, could have been married before we even came here, and still look how they did in the movies."

It wasn't the truth, but it was still something that had been bothering her. Sidney had made it sound like all the movies had happened before they had shown up. If that was the case, then more than a decade must have passed and they still didn't look any older. Also if they were all married, why weren't there a bunch of mini princes and princesses running about?

"Oh, well, it's kinda complicated..."

Lindsey got off the bed and walked toward her sister, taking the dresses from her arms. They were heavy and thick, blocking her view and requiring her to walk without looking in front of her. "This entire thing is complicated, how much more could it get?" she said as she dropped the dresses on the bed, glad to be rid of them for the time being.

"Well, time here works... differently." Sidney tilted her head, trying to come up with a better explanation. "There's a reason why this place seems so old-fashioned compared to our world, mostly because of Neverland. Some of the magic there stops people from aging. Even though it's in the sky, it's still close enough to have a little bit of an effect, causing people to age slower. That's why I still appear to be the same age as you despite spending days here while only a couple hours pass at home."

So it was complicated like Sidney claimed, but Lindsey wasn't stupid. Her grades were a result of a lack of effort, not a lack of intelligence. She repeated the words in her head until she understood what her sister was saying. Then she had another question.

"Okay, I get that. But if time is slower here, how come everything still feels the same? Shouldn't I feel different, or notice how slow things are moving?"

Sidney shook her head. "It's not something you can notice. Everything is paced the same, but at the same time, it's not. Even I don't completely understand it, and part of that is due to the nature of the bridge. When I was younger sometimes I would come here and find that a couple hours could have passed since I last visited, or a couple months. The bridge takes you when you're supposed to be and the time difference between worlds doesn't always match up."

"So you're saying it's possible for years to pass back home and we'd never notice?"

There was a slight panic in her voice. Sidney had told her that barely any time would have passed back home when she returned, and now she was being told that years could potentially pass. Lindsey didn't know how she'd be able to stand years passing. How could she explain that away? Sorry, but for me it was just a couple of days in an alternate dimension with a bunch of Disney characters...

That settled it, as soon as the ball was over tonight, she was leaving with or without Sidney's help.

"I'm sure that wouldn't happen," said Sidney. Lindsey knew her sister was just trying to comfort her, but it came off as patronizing. Lindsey felt like a little kid telling her parents that there was a monster under her bed, only for them not to believe her.

Picking up on her mood, Sidney decided to change the subject. "How about we find you a dress?"

* * *

Her dress was green.

_Green._

Sidney had insisted that green was one of the few colors that went well with her orange hair. Lindsey had pointed out that purple would have gone well with her hair. But oh no, purple was Rapunzel's color and god forbid somebody try to upstage her. When Lindsey had countered that Sidney was wearing a blue dress like Cinderella, Sidney had defended her choice by stating it was a darker blue, so therefore was not the same dress.

Lindsey had then asked about red, because red looked well with orange. Sidney had promptly informed her that wearing red would just reinforce her villain image, while green, the color of nature and life would negate it.

Personally she didn't think she looked naturey. Lindsey felt that between her orange hair and green dress, she looked much more like a leprechaun which she had been trying to avoid.

But that would have meant going against Sidney, and she always gave into her sister and those big puppy dog eyes.

So she agreed to wear the green dress, acted as if she was happy about it, and then proceeded to hide in a corner next to the big staircase in the ballroom. She would have hid there anyway to avoid the curious looks from all the royals and guests, but now she had another reason as well.

This behavior, hiding in the corner during a party, was unusual for Lindsey. Usually at parties she'd be out on the dance floor having a good time. Except Sidney had been wrong- balls were not more exciting than proms, they were more boring. The music was different, the dances were different, the dresses were different. Everything was different and Lindsey didn't like any of it.

"So you're the infamous Lindsey."

The girl that stood before Lindsey appeared to be in her teens, and was a bit shorter than Lindsey. Her blond hair was done up in some sort of fancy knot, and around her neck was a sparkly necklace that complimented her equally sparkly dark purple dress. The expression on her face matched Lindsey's and showed that she was just as eager to be there as Lindsey was.

"That's what I'm told," responded Lindsey. "Nice dress, I was told I couldn't wear purple because it might upset Rapunzel."

The girl laughed. "Rapunzel's pretty easy going, and is usually hiding during big social events. Sometimes being surrounded by so many people after all those years of isolation can be a bit much. Whoever told you that was actually referring to everybody else being upset over you trying to upstage a princess. Oh look, even now they're sending glares your way for fear that you're corrupting me."

Lindsey nearly choked on her drink at the remark. Nobody had been so blunt to her. Before the ball had started she had tried to confront the servants about their behavior, and they had denied everything rather vehemently.

"So am I corrupting you?" she asked.

The girl shrugged. "No more than I already am. I'm Ella," she said and stuck her hand forward for Lindsey to shake.

Grabbing it, Lindsey replied, "I'm Lindsey, but you already knew that. So Ella as in Cinderella?"

Ella scrunched up her face and frowned. "No, Ella as in Astrella. When your parents name your older sister after the dawn, they're expected to give you an equally ridiculous and celestial name, not that Rose actually ever uses it."

"Wait," said Lindsey, "Aurora's your sister? Where were you last night then at supper, or today?"

Ella let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. "Busy being grounded in my room for playing a prank on Emperor Kuzco. My parents are determined to make a good match for me, just like they did for my sister. I was supposed to be engaged to Prince Roland, Prince Phillip's younger brother, but then your sister came along and put an end to that thank goodness."

"Yeah," agreed Lindsey. "He certainly is... something."

Ella giggled. "His ego rivals Kuzco's, but he's head over heels for your sister- that's what managed to make my parents to give up on the match, they couldn't stand in the way of 'true love'."

Lindsey snorted, but Ella didn't seem to mind. "Looks like he's over me though," she said, pointing across the room where Kuzco was, with a pretty dark-haired girl by her side.

"That's Princess Reyna of Maldonia," Ella explained. "She can be a bit vain about her looks, but is nice enough."

Ella then spent the next couple minutes pointing out people in the crowd to Lindsey. The Greek ambassadors Hercules and Megara; Prince Adam and Princess Belle; Prince Charming, and Princess Cinderella; Prince Ferdinand and Princess Snow White; King Eric and Queen Ariel; Prince Aladdin and Princess Jasmine; and Prince Flynn and Princess Rapunzel of Corona.

The majority of those, Lindsey was surprised to find she knew. Her knowledge of Disney wasn't as murky as she had originally thought. There were others besides the royals as well. Merlin was talking to Genie; the Carpet and Abu seemed to be playing around with Pascal, Rapunzel's chameleon, Rose's three fairies were talking animatedly with Cinderella's fairy godmother.

The scale of everything began to sink in. This wasn't just some ordinary ball, this was... big. Disney characters from movies spanning decades were here in the same room as Lindsey was. They weren't actors playing a part, but were real people. Real people that Lindsey could reach out and touch, talk to if she even dared. Legends, some of whom she had looked up to as a child were dancing around, oblivious to her, perhaps even despising her.

The feeling she was getting in the pit of her stomach she didn't like, so she looked to Ella to distract her. "So, since Kuzco and Roland are out, who else is there?"

Ella shrugged. "Not many. Most royals have been too afraid to have children knowing that war is coming. Children would just be another thing for villains to use against the royals. Kidnapping, curses... all of which have happened to some of them already. I'm the youngest royal there is at the moment."

"Oh." If Lindsey had known how depressing the answer was, she would have never asked the question. Especially since she was part of the war that the heroes, or royals as Ella had called them, were so afraid of.

"It's fine," said Ella, grinning. "Just means less pressure on me to marry, and less princes to annoy me. Uh-oh, mother doesn't look too happy. She only tolerates you because you're Sidney's sister, doesn't mean she approves of us being friends."

"We're friends?" asked Lindsey, a little surprised.

"I hope so, you're one of the most exciting things to happen to the kingdom in years," replied Ella cheerfully. "Better go and play nice with the others for the night. See you around?"

"Yeah, see you around," lied Lindsey. She didn't have the heart to tell Ella that she was leaving as soon as the ball was over. Ella was one of the few people who had actually bothered to have a decent conversation with Lindsey so far and didn't treat her like a villain. As Ella had said, her mother and father had tolerated her because of her sister, but that mean they liked her.

Just when she thought she was alone at last, somebody else came toward her in the corner. Somebody she recognized and caused her to do a double take.

"Pe-Peter?" she exclaimed, stumbling over her friend's name. The same friend she had once thought had set up all of this as some elaborate prank. The same friend who would visit her in the summer.

He grinned at her, a smile that rivaled the Cheshire Cat's from earlier. "Hi, Lindsey. I know I have some explaining to do, but first, do you want to dance?"

****Author's Note****

Not as long as the last chapter, but still longer than the usual chapters.

Next chapter will have Peter's explanation, who is by the way, an actual Disney character. Lindsey will also discover what the Cheshire Cat was talking about earlier, and Hades will make an appearance.

I hope that everything makes sense so far, and all the Disney characters I've been using aren't OOC. I love writing the Cheshire Cat and try my best to balance the sense and nonsense of what he says. I'd also love to get a review or two for this chapter or the last.

Thanks for reading, and if possible, please leave a review!


	6. A Time for Allies

I don't own the rights to anything Disney. Next update: February 10th.

**A Time for Allies**

Ever predictable and reliable, Yzma had commenced Operation Interrogation the moment Anastasia had stepped into the shop. Being prepared mentally ahead of time, Anastasia was able to easily slip back into her old bratty self and was able to cut off Yzma's stream of questions. A couple screams, foot stomps, insults, and threats of going to her mother and step-father ceased any further questions Yzma might have.

Having put up with Kuzco over the years, she had learned that sometimes it was better to go along with a brat's tantrums rather than fight them. Add in the history between Yzma and the other villains such as Anastasia's mother, and Yzma knew that trying to intimidate one of Tremaine's daughters wasn't worth the effort.

She did feel a bit sorry for Kronk and putting him through it though. He was too naive and nice to be considered a true villain; his was a case of guilty by association. Which honestly didn't seem to bother him, even when Anastasia threw a danish against the wall because Yzma had dared to charge her full price when it was clearly a day old.

It worked though, and half an hour later she was out the door with fresh danishes and croissants (Kronk may have been from the Inca Empire, but his heart and food pallet was definitely French) and on her way to her source at Maleficent's castle.

Her source was more like a tolerated acquaintance. The heroes didn't just drive the villains out of their homes on land, but in the sea as well. The only place where Ursula could seek refuge was on land which required using her human form. As a sea witch she wasn't the most beautiful thing to look at, but as a human, she was one of the most attractive villains. As one of the most attractive villains, it was only natural for Gaston to consider her worthy of his attention.

That was how Anastasia knew her- Gaston's girlfriend that he would bring by the tavern to see LeFou (Not when the children were around. She and LeFou were trying to raise them to not be the selfish brats they had spent their adulthood's trying to leave behind) when he was not aboard Hook's ship. Their relationship was similar to that of her mother's and step-father's but based on looks rather than power. The second Ursula turned into her true form, Gaston would throw her right back into the ocean. Ursula understood that fact of their relationship as long as Gaston understood if she ever caught him with one of the Bimbettes (or any woman besides herself) he would become one of her 'Poor Unfortunate Souls'. She even had drawn up a contract that he signed.

Despite being a shrewd businesswoman, she was also a bit of a blabber mouth and loved to gossip- especially when she knew more than everybody else in the room. Nothing loosened her tongue like Kronk's food did.

In between bites, she managed to spill everything that she knew, and more than Anastasia's own mother apparently did. Yes, the girl was here. Yes, she had fled the castle. However, Grimhilde was keeping an eye on her for the villains to swoop in and save her from the heroes. Oh, and they had gotten word from Shan Yu that Hook was due with his ship in another day or so now that the girl was here.

Anastasia hadn't managed to get anything else out of here once Ursula managed Hook. If Hook was coming, then so was Gaston and Ursula just couldn't help but list all of his amazing qualities.

She was very tempted to point out that those 'amazing qualities' had also gotten him killed before Hades brought him back, just like he did the majority of the villains. However the time for being a brat was over, and the time for keeping allies was at hand. So she just stuffed a danish into her mouth and nodded her head while pretending to listen.

* * *

Lindsey supposed she must have looked like a fish with her mouth hanging open, but her brain had been rendered incapable of ordering her mouth to shut at Peter's appearance.

What was her friend from the real world, _her_ world, doing here, like he belonged here in this world?!

"Lindsey? Are you okay?"

His voice may have sounded concerned, but the smirk on his face made Lindsey's blood boil. He may have been concerned, but he was also enjoying her discomfort. Lindsey knew that look, it was Peter's 'I know something you don't know' look combined with his 'I'm about to do something completely insane but you'll laugh later' look.

So she slapped him.

Her hand stung and she was getting several curious glances, but at least the smirk was off his face.

Peter rubbed his left cheek, the one she had slapped.

"Alright," he said, "We'll skip the dancing and skip straight to the explanation. But how about we find somewhere a bit more private?"

Peter jerked his head up to where the genie from Aladdin was floating. Realizing that he had been spotted, he dropped down to the floor in between Peter and Lindsey, pushing them apart.

"Oh, you mean, little ole me?" he said in an innocent voice. "Just keeping an eye on my pal Peter here," and he reached out around Peter's shoulders pulling Peter tightly next to him. "Especially since you seem to be forgetting that the Princess of Darkness here just decked you. Who knows what else she is capable of."

"A slap is different from a punch," responded Lindsey. "Princess of Darkness, really? And to think, I once begged my parents to let me dress up as you for Halloween when Sidney wanted to be Jasmine and my parents thought it'd be cuter if I dressed up like Aladdin to match her. But no, I wanted to be Genie because he was so much cooler..."

A giggle came from Peter who had once seen a photo from that year. Genie's face softened however.

"You think I'm cooler than Al? No, no, no... I know what you're doing and your wily ways won't work on me."

Peter rolled his eyes. "Genie, I kinda deserved the slap. And Lindsey's not bad, she just has a bit of a temper like Tink, that's all."

"Tink?" asked Lindsey. "As in Tinkerbell? Wait, you're... you're Peter Pan!"

A puzzled look appeared on Genie's face. "Well, who did you think he was?"

* * *

"So you're Peter Pan, as in _the _Peter Pan? Aren't you supposed to be shorter?"

Once Peter managed to squeeze out of Genie's tight grip, he had tried to lead Lindsey away. That failed when Genie summoned a pair of handcuffs that clamped around Lindsey's left wrist which was connected to Genie's right. It wasn't until Genie extracted a promise from Lindsey to not harm 'a single gorgeous hair on Peter's head' (his words, not hers) or she'd have to face his wrath.

She couldn't remember Genie ever being menacing in the movie, so it was hard to take his threat seriously. Somehow though, she managed to make the promise with a straight face.

With that done, Peter dragged her through the throngs of curious on-lookers and outside to the rose gardens that the palace was famous for. He led her along the stone path and stopped under a copse of trees that hid them from view. Judging from the giggles and whispers nearby, they weren't the only ones who had the idea to hide in the gardens, albeit for different reasons.

To her, he had always been Peter, so she never noticed the resemblance to the iconic Disney character. Now that she was, she felt like an idiot for not figuring it out sooner. The ginger hair, the mischievous smile, the boyish face.

However there were some differences. Lindsey hadn't seen the movie in some time, but she was pretty sure that his ears were supposed to be pointed and he wasn't supposed to be so tall. Actually, now that Lindsey thought about it, he hadn't looked like a boy in years.

He smiled again, the same smile that made Lindsey want to slap it off his face.

"Um... well... you see..." The smile was replaced with a frown. "Huh, that's funny. I've been looking forward to this moment for forever, and now that it's here, I don't know what to say..."

"I've often been told that the beginning is a good place to start," Lindsey replied dryly.

As much as she loved Peter, sometimes he could be so dense. Lindsey had often attributed this trait to him being naive, but she was starting to wonder if maybe it was genetic, or something in the air or water. It seemed like everybody here jumped to conclusions, and didn't apply logic to situation. This was coming from a girl who usually played tic-tac-toe in crossword puzzles because she could never figure out the words.

"Yeah, except you don't remember the beginning. You don't remember playing in Neverland with me and the Lost Boys, you don't remember our adventures together, you don't remember _anything_."

Peter had many looks, many of which Lindsey had memorized. Not all involved mischievous smiles and smirks. The one he was wearing now, was the one that was the most rare to see and had the potential to break Lindsey's the most. It was his 'kicked puppy' look. From experience Lindsey knew Peter was a master actor and could look sad and dejected on command, but those looks had nothing on the 'kicked puppy' look. That expression was his most honest one- which was why it was so rarely seen.

Naturally, Lindsey wanted to make him feel better. She just didn't know how to without lying to his face.

"I might not remember anything now, but that doesn't mean I won't remember anything _later_. And maybe if you shared some stories with me that might help. Like how you said I was one of the Lost Boys and went on adventures with you and stuff."

Whatever she said must have worked, for he started to laugh.

"You were never one of the Lost Boys. When you first showed up I tried calling you a Wendy, and you said no. Then I tried calling you a Lost Girl and you said no to that and to being a Lost Boy. You kept insisting that you weren't lost, you were just Lindsey."

Well, that did sound like her, it actually sound pretty familiar.

Oh. _Oh_. _  
_

The Cheshire Cat had kept calling her that- not Lost-Girl or something like that. She had just thought it was part of his insanity, who knew that he could make any sense?

So what did he mean by the 'Don't Take the T' line?

Peter continued talking. "Though I supposed that was accurate because you didn't act lost. You refused to follow my lead, always going off on your own adventures. When you were with me you wouldn't stop asking questions, you wanted to know _how_ magic worked, and asked me things I never bothered to think about. Every time I thought it'd be easier just to give up on you, you'd do something amazing, sucking me right back in."

He paused, and Lindsey didn't say anything. Refusing to take orders was another thing that sounded like her. What didn't sound like her was the asking questions bit. Lindsey never asked questions in school, she was the one sleeping in the back during class. Maybe he was getting her confused with Sidney.

"Then you stopped coming and things started getting boring and less fun. It took a while, but I figured out that you were why I had stopped having any fun. Since you refused to come play with me, I decided to come play with you."

"Wait, you came across the bridge? But Sidney said the further away you get from the bridge, the more magic weakens."

Peter nodded confirming her statement. "Including Neverland's. Took me a while to notice it, but being away from Neverland, meant being away from the magic that kept me from aging."

"But if you started noticing that you were growing up, why didn't you stop visiting me?"

The mischievous smile returned to his face. "Because you were more fun."

"And nobody noticed?"

He shrugged. "They noticed, but the Blue Fairy said it could just be Neverland's magic allowing me to grow up a bit so I would be able to fight better for the war."

"And Teddy?"

Teddy had always come with Peter each summer claiming to be his cousin, and doubled as their accomplice and/or victim for some of their pranks.

"He's Cubby. He was the only one of the Lost Boys to notice me sneaking off and insisted on coming with me."

"And Sidney?"

"She always preferred being with the princesses anyway, so we were never that close. By visiting you in the summer, I'd miss her because she'd be too busy here."

The grin, was his 'I'm such a genius' grin, one that could rival the Cheshire Cat's.

"So she never knew?"

"Nope."

"And the fact that I'm the Princess of Darkness?"

He rolled his eyes. "Just means even more fun."

With her questions answered, Lindsey didn't know what else to say. What did you say to someone who turned out to be somebody completely different from the person you thought they were? Her view on the world and how things worked had changed so drastically over the past couple days, that she figured there was nothing this new insane world could throw at her that she wouldn't be able to take.

She had been wrong.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Standing on the path was Roland.

When neither Peter nor Lindsey answered, he took it upon himself to continue the conversation.

"Peter, Mulan and Shang are back from their scouting mission and wish to speak to you in King Stephan's chambers regarding your new patrol area."

Peter sighed then turned to Lindsey to explain. "Growing up apparently comes with a lot of responsibilities, including working with the rest of the heroes. Me and the Lost Boys, Tink with the rest of the pixies, Hercules with Pegasus, and Aladdin with Carpet and Genie have all been after the Codfish and his crew for months. They keep attacking by air, out of range for most magic users, leaving it to us to go after him. Guess they must have been sighted for Mulan to want to change our patrol area. We'll talk later?"

"Later," confirmed Lindsey as he started to fly away. Then she added, "Be safe."

Peter paused in the air, and smirked down on her. "Don't worry Lindsey. The day I die will have to be the day the world is ending. That old Codfish can't lay a hand on me, I'm just too good."

Then he was up, up, and away, flying out of sight and toward the castle.

Leaving her with Roland.

He had two small cups in his hand and held one out to Lindsey.

"Think of it as an apology for not trusting you earlier. Your appearance resembled Sidney's so closely, that I thought you were a spy who underwent a transformation spell by Maleficent sent to earn my trust. I forgot that Sidney had an identical twin."

Lindsey reached out for the cup of what she presumed to be tea. Wine and champagne were being passed around, but not everybody were alcohol drinkers, so juices and teas were being passed around as well.

"Uh-huh. And the fact that my hair isn't the same?"

"A technicality. Most likely a result of the spell going wrong somehow."

Lindsey mulled over the sincerity of his apology and started to bring the cup up to her lips. Something caught her eye, for she stopped before the cup had even reached her chin.

She let out a scream, dropping her cup in the process. A familiar wide grin from the Cheshire Cat had been looking up at her in the tea. The face startled her so much, that letting the cup slip from her fingers and shatter on the ground was her natural reaction.

"I'm so sorry, there was a bug in my tea..."

It was a lie, but admitting that she saw the Cheshire Cat smiling up at her instead, didn't seem the smartest thing to say. Lindsey bent down to pick up the pieces off of the ground. Her hand stopped when she saw what the tea was doing to the ground. The grass it had landed on was turning a sickly yellow and shriveling it up. It looked like the grass from last year when no rain came in July or August- sickly and dead. Some of the tea had even splashed onto her dress, acting like some sort of acid eating through the delicate green fabric.

'Don't take the T', the Cat had said. Except he had meant a different type of 'T'.

Lindsey stood back up slowly. "You tried to poison me," she said, even though she could hardly believe it.

"Oh there you two are," said Sidney who was coming up the path. "Peter said-" She stopped speaking once she realized that something wasn't quite right. Roland stood in a defensive position, and Lindsey looked as if she was about to explode.

"What's going on here?" asked Sidney.

"Your boyfriend just tried to kill me," snarled Lindsey, her voice dripping with venom.

"What?" asked a shocked Sidney. "Roland, what is she talking about?"

"We both know that this is what it'll come down to- you killing her, or her killing you. I knew you would hate yourself for killing your sister, so I decided to do it for you," replied Roland.

"Roland, what about the plan? The Blue Fairy was teaching me a spell that could trap her-"

Roland interrupted her. "You put far too much trust into the Blue Fairy Sidney. Did she tell you the price of completing that spell?"

Lindsey interjected before Sidney could respond. "Hang on, trap me? You were planning on trapping me?"

"Only as a last resort," assured Sidney. Even with the reassuring tone, Lindsey didn't feel any better.

"That's it," she said, "I'm going home right now. Sidney where is the bridge?"

"Um, well you see..." she faltered, not sure how to continue.

"Where is the bridge Sidney?" demanded Lindsey, not liking the look of dread on her sister's face. "Where is it?!"

Before Sidney could answer, a voice spoke out from behind them. "Seems like somebody's keeping secrets from her own sister..."

Stepping out of the shadows was Hades. In response, Roland drew his sword, and Sidney stepped in between Hades and Lindsey and proceeded to have a starring contest with the god of the dead.

"I wouldn't have to keep secrets from her if you hadn't destroyed the bridge!"

"Come on, you heard her. If the bridge hadn't been destroyed, she would have gone home, and we would have had to do the whole kidnapping thing all over again. This way, we can skip right to the part where she kicks your goody two-shoes butt."

"The bridge is destroyed?" asked Lindsey, realizing what that meant. No bridge meant no way home, which also meant she would have to fight her sister.

And Sidney had known all along.

Lindsey pulled her sister around to face her. "You lied to me, you made me believe all along I could go home after the ball knowing that I couldn't. Why would you do that? I trusted you."

The words stung Sidney, and she could she the hurt in Lindsey's face. There were very few times that she had betrayed a person's trust, let alone her own sister's. "I was going to tell you I promise, after the ball tonight. You were just so adamant about going home, I didn't know how to break it to you."

"Just like she didn't know how to break it to you about the little prison she was working on," said Hades. Roland made a move to rush him with his sword, causing Hades to roll his eyes. "I'm the god of the dead kid, do you really think you can kill me?"

"I can try," replied Roland.

"Stop!" yelled Lindsey, "Just stop! You," she said and pointed to Roland who had stopped where he stood to look at her, "You tried to kill me. And you," she said pointing to her sister, "You lied to me and were going to trap me in some kind of prison."

"Would you prefer me killing you?"

Lindsey started to fume. All this time, Roland and Sidney had been more focused on Sidney having to kill Lindsey. They never considered the possibility that Lindsey would kill Sidney. Roland never thought that killing Lindsey would mean saving Sidney, he thought it would mean protecting her from the guilt of taking her sister's own life. Lindsey may have been a slacker, but it was due to choice, not ability.

Her sister had no faith in her at all.

Lindsey reached up and took off the earrings and necklace her sister had lent to her, throwing them at Sidney's feet. "You can have those back."

She tried to take off the green dress that she hated so much, but had worn anyway in order to please her sister. Struggling with undoing the laces in the back which tied her into it, Hades held out a finger and took care to burn away the laces that were frustrating Lindsey without burning her as well in the process. Lindsey was left wearing her underclothes that were Sidney's as well, but didn't remove them.

"And your stupid green dress that I didn't even want to wear!" she added, throwing the dress on the ground with as much care as she had taken with the jewelry- which was to say none at all.

"Lindsey, what are you doing?" hissed Sidney, shocked by the display. Roland's eyes were bugging out of his head- the girls he knew just didn't toss their clothes and jewels on the ground like trash, especially in front of a _villain._

"I'm standing up for myself, something that you seem to think I'm incapable of. I can fight for myself, and I will win. Hades, can you get us out of here?"

"With pleasure," he said with a smirk. Taking her hand, they were gone in a puff of blue smoke leaving a clueless Sidney and Roland behind.

****Author's Note****

I'd like to thank Galimatias and Michaelaquinn for reviewing the last chapter. Reviews are always appreciated, and I love to receive feedback.

This chapter is shorter than most, but has a lot of important information in it. The reason that it took so long to be posted was mainly due to Peter and trying to keep him in character while balancing Young Peter Pan, Older Peter Pan, and Lindsey's Peter.

I feel like so much of the story has been leading to this point, where Lindsey decides to join the villains and why she makes the choice. Some of you might have picked up on scenes from earlier chapters that mentioned something the villains had done, and blowing up the bridge was it. As Hades pointed out, if they hadn't, Lindsey would have returned home and the war would never happened.

Also, as shown in the chapter, not everything the Cheshire Cat says is nonsense. Some is very important even if it doesn't make much sense at the time.

Next chapter will have Anastasia meeting Lindsey, and Sidney confronting Roland.

Also, if they are any Supernatural and Once Upon a Time fans out there, I've posted a one-shot where Rumpelstiltskin and Crowley meet after Cinderella/Ashley makes a deal with Crowley to keep her baby, and Rumpelstiltskin finds out. It's called 'Let's Make a Deal' for anybody interested in reading.

Till then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if possible, please leave a review!


	7. Right and Wrong

I do not own the rights to anything Disney. Next update is February 24th.

**Right and Wrong**

"Get away from him!"

The shout came from Sidney who was busy trying to pry Peter away from Roland. Every time she would get a grip, he would simply fly higher into the air and out of reach while maintaining his blade which was currently resting against Roland's throat. His feet were now touching the ceiling and his knees were bent since they had long since run of out of room to extend fully. Peter didn't care about the lack of room or the cramp that was starting to set in. What he cared about was getting even with the prince who had tried to kill Lindsey.

When he had finally found Mulan and Shang, both were perplexed by his appearance. Neither had been looking for him, contrary to what Prince Roland had said.

That should have been clue number one that something was off. Peter shook off the feeling of dread and tried to concentrate on the conversation going on around him with Mulan and Shang. All three had agreed that since they were together, they might as well make the most of it.

They didn't get very far when Lindsey's voice reached his ears. From the sound of it, she was extremely pissed off.

Peter hated it when she was in one of those moods. Fun to watch as long as it wasn't directed at him oh yes, but not so fun on the ears.

He wasn't the only one who had noticed. Mulan cut off the discussion regarding the merits of setting a trap for Hook vs. ambushing him abruptly and turned her attention to the window. It had been opened to let in the cool night breeze, but also allowed Lindsey's infuriated voice to carry in. Before Mulan or Shang could say anything, Peter was gone. Windows weren't just for letting things in, but out as well. A use that Peter was well acquainted with.

By the time he flew to the spot where he had last seen her in the garden she was gone. Sidney and Prince Roland had been joined by some of the palace guards who, like Peter, had been alerted to the disturbance in the garden and had gone to investigate. Peter landed lightly on his feet in the middle of the group.

"Where's Lindsey?" he asked.

Nobody would meet his eyes. Clue number two that something was wrong.

A short while later he was back in the same room he had started in with Mulan and Shang. Also in the room were Sidney, Prince Roland, Prince Phillip, Princess Aurora, the King and Queen, Genie, guards and numerous other people that Peter didn't know the names of. The room was very crowded as a result, if you were standing. If you were floating above in the air like Genie and Peter, the room was very open.

The official explanation- according to Prince Roland- had been that Sidney and Lindsey had gotten into a fight, Hades had shown up, and Lindsey had left with him. Judging by Sidney's dismal expression directed at the floor and the way her left arm was gripping her right one tightly in a comforting way, there was something more to the story. The others had assumed Sidney's melancholy was due to her sister allying herself with Hades. Such a reaction was understandable.

Yet, Peter had doubts. The same uneasy feeling from earlier was returning, and telling him that there was something else going on. While he could believe that Sidney's unusual silence was due to the shock of her sister's betrayal, he couldn't believe that Lindsey would join the villains so easily. He knew her better than everybody else in the room, including Sidney. Lindsey may be a lot of things, but she would never abandon her friends or sister on a whim. There had to have been a reason.

So he waited. He waited while Prince Roland explained, he waited while everybody bought his lies, and he waited while everybody left the room, satisfied with Prince Roland's story. That's when he pressed his knife to Prince Roland's threat and demanded the truth. When Prince Roland confessed to trying to poison Lindsey, Peter's knife became even closer to his throat, drawing small droplets of blood.

Sidney was screaming at him to stop. Her screaming, like Lindsey's, would soon bring guards and others into the room, preventing Peter from doing whatever he wanted to do to Prince Roland.

Peter had never killed anybody. Taunted, teased, tricked, impersonated, humiliated, yes. But kill? No. Even cutting off Hook's hand had been an accident. Peter had overestimated Hook's speed, thinking he would have moved out of the way of Peter's sword in time. Though he would never admit it to the old Codfish, Peter had regretted the accident and would occasionally look at his own hand and try to imagine a life without it. He never could.

"Peter, stop! Would Lindsey want this?"

Instead of Sidney talking sense, it was Princess Aurora. Funny, he had forgotten that she had stayed behind. Peter didn't know her that well, didn't know many of the princesses that well, really. Princesses weren't the type who shared Peter's sense of humor or could understand why he was always fighting Hook, never willing to strike a final blow. Even now, when talking strategy with the others, Peter was always thinking about Hook and how he would manage to escape unscathed Peter was nothing without Hook, and wouldn't know what to do with himself if the Old Codfish was dead and gone.

Aurora did have a good point. Would Lindsey want this?

Peter could see the fear in Prince Roland's wide eyes, hear his ragged breath while waiting for Peter to make up his mind. The knife to his throat began to back away from his throat, and Peter slowly descended from the ceiling.

"That's right Peter," Sidney said soothingly, "Lindsey wouldn't want him to be hurt." She started to walk toward them slowly, with the princess close behind.

He paid them no heed, turning his attention to the window in the room. The very same window he had flew out earlier. Peter put one foot on the window, ready to fly out, but not before saying one last thing. "Prince Roland, if you ever hurt Lindsey again, I will feed you to the Codfish's crocodile. Princess Aurora," he said with a nod in her direction, "thanks for stopping me. You were right, Lindsey wouldn't have wanted me to hurt his highness." Sidney and the princess both smiled. "Lindsey would have wanted to do it herself."

The smiles vanished, but Peter didn't care. He was out of the window and flying away into the night sky.

* * *

Rose had left to assure everybody that everything was okay. She was kind like that, always thinking of others first, it was one of the first things Sidney had learned about her. It was also most the reason that she spent the majority of her time at Rose's castle rather than some of the other princesses. Sure the bridge was conveniently located nearby. However, Princess Aurora had been Rose, the peasant girl who lived in he woods for most of her life, and had kept her down-to-earth attitude even after finding out she was a princess. Lately, she had been so busy with other duties, that Sidney didn't get to see her that much. When she was free, Sidney wasn't.

Despite her assurances that everything was okay, it really wasn't. Roland had tried to kill Lindsey so Sidney wouldn't let her. He had then lied about it.

Worse, she had let him. She had let them think her sister had randomly left with Hades, with no good reason to do so.

That wasn't what heroes did. Heroes told the truth, they didn't let others pay for their mistakes.

But what was she supposed to do? As much as she loved her sister, she loved Roland as well. While what he did was stupid and wrong, he had meant well. He knew about the sleepless nights, the doubts that had been haunting her for some time now. He had been trying to spare her the pain, but instead had caused another kind, forcing her to choose between her sister and him. He was just a soldier, sworn to protect his country from any perceived threats. According to the prophecy, Lindsey was one, so was trying to kill her so bad?

And it wasn't like he didn't have a good reason for being afraid of the villains. His own sister-in-law, Rose, was cursed as a baby simply because her parents hadn't invited Maleficent to her christening and spent the majority of her life growing up without her parents. What kind of person could curse a child to die for something they had no power in? What else was that person capable of? What if the next child they cursed wasn't as lucky as Rose? Roland had merely been afraid, and when people were afraid they tended to do stupid things. Like trying to poison someone.

Then again, if she had stuck up for Lindsey, had explained that Roland had tried to poison her, nothing much would have happened. Secretly, the majority of those in the room would have sympathized with him. If they could win the war before it started, why not try? Furthermore, the laws here were different. The courts here were different than America's. As a prince, Roland practically had diplomatic immunity. Short of taking over the world and other villainous acts, people here would look the other way. Just like they had done when the dwarves had chased the Queen to the top of the cliff, giving her no place to go but down when the lightning broke struck; when Prince Erik had stabbed Ursula; when Mulan had blown up Shan Yu and killed the Huns in the avalanche.

All cases of self-defense. Back home though, there still would have been interviews, an investigation to confirm that was the case. Nothing here. Nothing other than the princes marrying their princesses and living happily ever after.

So even opening her mouth would have been pointless. The only one who seemed to be truly outraged by the truth and had asked for it was Peter. Sidney knew that the two of them had been closer when Lindsey had been younger and still believed in this world. She just hadn't realized how close they must have been all those years ago.

But he was wrong about what Lindsey would have wanted. Wasn't he? The Lindsey she knew wouldn't want to hurt Roland. At least, Sidney didn't think she would. Sidney didn't want to think she would.

"Are you okay?"

Roland had put one of his hands on Sidney's arm. She pulled away.

"No, I'm not okay," she said shaking her head. "I understand why you did it, but if you ever hurt my sister again, I'll... I'll..." Sidney didn't know what she'd do, she really didn't want to see Roland hurt. "I'll never speak to you again."

As threats go, it wasn't the scariest. It seemed to do the trick though.

Roland nodded. "I understand."

Sidney might not be able to do much for her sister, but she could stick up for Lindsey in whatever little way she could. She owed her sister that much.

* * *

Saying that Lindsey would have wanted to hurt Roland herself, wasn't smart. Peter could just imagine the gasps that filled the room after he left.

He didn't care. Besides, since when did he ever worry about doing the smart thing?

If he had worried about doing the smart thing, he never would have crossed the bridge to find Lindsey.

As he had told her during the ball, Lindsey was different. She had refused to listen him, and follow him like a leader. She refused to act like a mother and tell stories like Wendy had. She had been so obstinate, so determined to do things her own way. Being around her was so maddening, that Peter had been happy when Tink got word from the fairies that Lindsey was gone for good.

After she left though, he fell into a funk. At first he didn't notice what was wrong, just that everything seemed more boring, less fun. Irritating the Codfish wasn't even as much fun as it used to be. Peter couldn't figure out what was wrong, why things had suddenly changed. Nothing ever changed in Neverland, that was why it was called Neverland.

Surprisingly, it was the Codfish who managed to work out what was wrong with Peter. Peter had taken the Lost Boys to Skull Island when the Codfish had arrived for a surprise attack. If Peter had been his normal self, he would have been expecting some sort of attack and ready to defend himself. He tried to fight the Codfish. Flew around him and his crew, got a couple blows in, but his heart wasn't in it. Ultimately it was the Codfish who ended up with his sword against his opponent's throat.

The Lost Boys were too busy fighting off the pirates to notice Peter trapped in the corner, and Smee had managed to trap an angry Tinkerbell in a jar.

"I've looking forward to this day for a long time now, Boy," the Codfish sneered. "So long, that killing you while you're not obviously at your best would undermine my accomplishment. What's the matter, Boy?"

Peter blinked at him, confused. Since when did the Codfish care?

When Peter didn't answer, the Codfish spoke again. "It's the girl, isn't it? The one that you traipse around this island with. Haven't seen her in a while."

"She's gone," mumbled Peter.

The Codfish lowered his sword from Peter's throat and sigh. "Well go after her then. Girls being in other places besides Neverland has never stopped you before."

"What?" asked Peter. Was the Codfish really giving him advice? This had to be a trap of some sort.

The Codfish rolled his eyes. "It might surprise you Boy, but I once was in love, a long time ago."

"What happened?" Peter was genuinely curious, who knew the Codfish was capable of love? To Peter, the only person he seemed to care for was himself.

"She died," he spat. "What do you think happened? Do you really think I'd be stuck here fighting you all my days if she was still alive?"

The Codfish then walked away, claiming loudly that Peter had been grievously injured and was unable to continue fighting, and that a celebration that night was in order. The pirates whooped and cheered at the thought of rum and success, not bothering to confirm Peter's wounds. The Lost Boys were confused, but Peter managed to convince them that he had merely acted as if he was wounded to fool the Codfish. The Lost Boys believed him, having played similar tricks before.

That night, the pirates weren't the only ones celebrating, the Lost Boys were as well, screaming their heads off like the Indians nearby. Peter was sitting at the top of the tree, looking up at the stars in the sky, thinking over the Codfish's words. Think kept tugging on him, encouraging him to join the Lost Boys with their fun. When he didn't budge, she turned red and left. Peter knew she'd forgive him, she always did whenever he made her angry. Which he seemed to be doing a lot recently.

It had to be some sort of trap, didn't it? Even if he did decide to go after Lindsey, he wouldn't know where to start. She didn't live in London, didn't live with the other princesses. She lived somewhere else entirely, traveled by some sort of magical bridge. There were so many bridges in the world, how would he know which was hers? What would he even do once he found her? What if she had forgotten who he was? Neverland did have that affect on people, causing them to forget things when they arrived or left.

But.

But just imagine the fun he could have with her if he managed to find her in that strange world of hers, the world where magic was weakened.

A sly grin worked its away across his face. A plan was starting to form in his head, a plan that would mean finding the bridge and Lindsey.

He just had to remember how to lose his shadow.

* * *

At the time, going with Hades seemed like such a brilliant idea. He was the only one there who hadn't betrayed her after all. Plus, he was her favorite character from Hercules besides Meg. He had a sense of humor, was blue like Genie, and she had always felt sorry for him because of how much Disney had screwed up the Hercules myth.

Now though, being back at Maleficent's castle surrounded by villains who were eyeing her like a piece of meat, was causing her to have doubts. Which was why she had quickly asked to be led to her room, preferably one that wasn't green. To her surprise, Maleficent and the others had been rather compliant leaving her alone to her thoughts and changing out of Sidney's undergarments and into the clothes in the wardrobe in the room.

The room was much like the first one she had been in with the exception of being orange. It wasn't bright orange, but more of a burnt orange, which was also her favorite shade. Either it was an incredible stroke of luck, or the villains had been keeping a close on her. She suspected the latter, Hades showing up in the garden at that precise moment was a bit too convenient. Lindsey would ask tomorrow, but for the moment she just wanted to be left alone with her thoughts.

Now that she had allied herself with the villains, they would most likely expect her to start acting like the Princess of Darkness that Genie had dubbed her. She didn't know if she could. Lindsey had always been the wild child, the party girl, but those weren't the same thing as being evil. Lindsey didn't know if she could be the Princess of Darkness everybody thought she was. She might have done some stupid reckless things in her life, but a truly evil and selfish act wasn't among them.

Her wish to be alone, didn't last for long.

"Hello again, Not Lost Girl."

Lindsey didn't even bother looking away from her spot at the lone widow in the room. She had been busy figuring out what to do next until the Cheshire Cat had shown up.

"Hello Cheshire Cat. I suppose I should thank you."

The cat didn't like not looking at him and remedied the situation by floating in the air, outside her window.

"Thank me for what?"

"Saving my life of course."

"Oh that's nice of me. When did I do that?"

Lindsey managed to resist the urge to give an exasperated sigh and roll her eyes. By now she was well used to the Cheshire Cat's weirdness.

"Earlier. You told me not to take the 'T'. I didn't realize that you meant the drink and not the letter. I was just about to take a sip from the cup Roland gave me when you appeared in it, causing me to drop the cup."

"Ah," he said. "That does sound like me. Goodbye Not Lost Girl."

Like all the other times, he disappeared within seconds. Well, at least he managed to say goodbye for once.

* * *

Lady Tremaine, or Lady Frollo as she was called now, looked at the note in her hand. Maleficent's crow had dropped it off earlier. The fact that the crow was the messenger meant the note contained important information, for it usually tried to avoid her due to Lucifer's presence and insistence on catching the crow as a snack.

The contents of the note made her smile. It seemed like there might be some hope for her daughters' futures after all.

"Drizella," she called out, "Tomorrow you will fetch your sister and bring her here. I have something important to discuss with her."

****Author's Note****

Wow. That's all I can really say. In the past two weeks I've gotten five reviews which is a record, and this story managed to break 1,000 hits in three months, which is a record for me. All I can say is wow.

I'd like to thank The Invisible Enchantress, Starswim, jUsT-CAuSe-I-cAN, Raha, and noonface for their wonderful reviews and all the readers out there. Knowing that there are readers out there who like this story got me through my frustration with this chapter and the urge to chuck my computer at a wall.

I'm sorry that this chapter is so late and is shorter than I would have liked. For some reason, writing Peter's POV and past is frustrating. I didn't even finish the first part until yesterday. Today there were so many times I wanted to throw my computer against the wall in the frustration.

The good news is that I'm over the worst of it. Next chapter will finish Peter's tale of crossing the bridge, finding Lindsey, and some of the mischief they got into. The reason why Maleficent sent Lady Tremaine the letter and her interest in Anastasia will be revealed, and Hades has an interesting meeting with the Fates.

Not a whole lot of action this chapter unlike the last. I felt it was necessary to show what was going through Sidney's head and her reaction to Roland, and get a bit into Peter's background with Lindsey. I can't remember if Hook ever called Peter 'Boy' that much in the movie, but it seems like something he would do, so I decided to use a bit of artistic license.

Thanks for reading, and if possible please leave a review!


	8. Revelations

I do not own the rights to anything Disney. The next update will be March 10th.

**Revelations**

Pocahontas summoned her courage before stepping inside to face her father.

She had been having disagreements with her father since she was a young child and was not in need of courage to do so. This time was different. It wasn't just about her and what she wanted, it was her entire tribe and involving them in something they might not walk away victorious from.

John Smith may have left to return to England, but some settlers had remained at Jamestown. Earlier that day, Thomas had stopped by to tell Nakoma the settlement had received word from their Chief (King technically, but Pocahontas and the other Powhatans called him 'Chief) . Since there was no gold to be found, the settlement was going to be abandoned. Ships were on their way for the remaining settlers to return to England. A great war was coming and their Chief wanted them in England where they could fight, and not halfway around the world. Any settlers who didn't want to return to England were free to do so- as long as they understood that there would be no more support from the country, and no more supplies, leaving them dependent on the Powhatan's.

Thomas and Nakoma's relationship was... different. Different at least from Pocahontas's and John Smith's. Whereas theirs had happened fast and suddenly, Thomas and Nakoma's had progressed slowly and steadily. Feeling guilty over Kocoum's death and John Smith taking the blame, he had visited the Powhatan's a few days after John Smith's departure in order to tell the truth about what happened. Although he had clarified what had happen after John Smith had been shot, there was still a knot in his chest whenever he thought about it. Tension was in the air with his unexpected arrival. He stumbled at first, trying to find the words to adequately describe what he wanted to say.

Chief Powhatan, Pocahontas's father, understood his message- the expression on Thomas's face spoke the words he could not. After a few uncomfortable seconds, Chief Powhatan proclaimed that actions from both sides should be left in the past, and they should work together for a peaceful future. Most of the Powhatans were appeased by this declaration, but continued to watch Thomas and the other settlers who visited their village with a wary eye. They would live in peace with them as their Chief had requested, but the second the settlers showed any signs of betrayal, the Powhatans would be ready to defend themselves.

Nakoma was having issues with her role in Kocoum's death as well. Many 'What If's' would race through her mind. What if she had never told him about Pocahontas? What if she had told him earlier? What if she had gone instead? What if she had never agreed to keep Pocahontas's secret? Her crush on Kocoum had existed for years- she would have gladly married him if Pocahontas hadn't- and he was dead all because of her. Worse was the knowledge that Pocahontas felt nothing about causing his death, claiming that she chosen her path and he had chosen his.

So the knowledge that she was not alone in her guilt was a welcome one. She sought out Thomas as he was leaving that day, and confessed her role. Nobody besides Pocahontas knew that Kocoum would not have been there had it not been for Nakoma, and she felt some relief that somebody else now knew her part and could share her pain. It wasn't that she had tried to hide her role, just that everything had spiraled so quickly out of control and nobody had asked her. By the time she wanted to share, the other Powhatans had moved on, and refused to talk about Kocoum's death. For some it was just too painful to think about, and would only flame their hatred for the settlers when their relationship was already so fragile. It was best for all for it to remain in the past.

Thomas understood though, and the two developed a strange friendship afterwards. They would share smiles and words when they ran into each other. He would tell her about the mother and siblings he had left behind, and she would tell him about the mother she had lost earlier that year, the reason for her short hair- the Powhatan's way of mourning.

Their friendship even helped with Pocahontas's and Nakoma's. Pocahontas's lack of guilt or sadness over Kococum's death had caused some uneasiness between the two. However Nakoma's curiosity of Thomas's world and Pocahontas's knowledge brought them back together. She had become an unofficial ambassador between the two groups and had taught them how to use the land and its resources without destroying it. During her time spent with the settlers, she had learned much from them, and could explain things that Thomas had merely mentioned in passing. She was also one of the few who could understand Nakoma's attraction to the foreigner.

It was due to this strange friendship that Thomas had stopped by in the first place. He wanted to know if it was more than just a friendship- something serious enough to cause him to stay behind and not to return to England. Pocahontas had left them alone to discuss their possible future together, but once they were done, she set about getting some more information regarding the great war their Chief feared was coming.

Before the English had come, dreams about the spinning arrow had plagued her. It was only upon the English's arrival and meeting John Smith did she realize their meaning. The dreams had stopped after that for a while, but had recently returned. Instead of strange clouds, they were visions of a battle in the sky. Stars would glow bright before being consumed in darkness, only to explode into brightness later. Some nights the stars would win the battle, and others the darkness would consume everything.

She had visited Grandmother Willow for an explanation. She only had confirmed Pocahontas's fears- that something big, possibly bigger than the arrival of the English, was coming, and it might mean the end of everything if the light didn't win.

Thomas had explained that a great war was coming between the heroes and villains of his land- villains such as Ratcliffe, and heroes such as Pocahontas and John Smith. As villains went, Ratcliffe was considered so weak and incompetent that the others hadn't even sought out his help for their war. The knowledge that there were villains in existence who thought Ratcliffe was weak sent a shiver down their spine. Surely this war was the cause of her dreams, and the villains were the darkness.

Which was why she had to face her father and ask him to send all of their strongest warriors to aid the English. For if the villains succeeded, what would stop them from turning their attention to other lands to conquer? The Powhatans may have learned some about the English and their strange weapons, but not enough to fight a huge group armed with them. Then there was the magic the more powerful villains had. The Powhatans had shamans and the 'Colors of the Wind' which allowed them to understand the English, but it wouldn't be enough- Pocahontas knew that in her heart. Their only option to defeat the villains was before they won, before the darkness consumed all the light.

Now she just had to convince her father of that. Living in peace with the English was one thing, but sending his best warriors to a strange land so far away, leaving his people unprotected was another.

Especially if his only child wished to join them.

* * *

It took several tries before Peter managed to lose his shadow. He had only lost it once before, and that had been a complete accident. Once he did, his shadow flew off to complete its mission. Unlike last time, his shadow was cooperative with Peter- it wanted to see Lindsey just as much Peter did.

The Lost Boys and Tinker Bell had noticed his lack of shadow, but all he had to do was laugh off their concerns and claim that it had run away, and would return later. They easily forgot about it once Peter suggest a game of Following the Leader.

A couple days passed before his shadow returned. It was at night, and Peter had just started to drift off to sleep. He felt his hair being tugged and thinking it was Tink, tried to swat her away. It didn't work though, if anything the tugging got worse. Peter opened his eyes to ask Tink what she was doing, only to see his shadow on the wall.

His shadow had his hands on his hips, and if his shadow could have had an expression it would have been Peter's all-knowing smirk. It started to point urgently outside, which could only mean his mission was a success.

Peter didn't know the exact location of the bridge. Whenever Lindsey visited, she came to Neverland on her own, the fairies having shown her and her sister the way for their first visit. He couldn't ask anybody who knew where it was, because they would want to know why he wanted to know the bridge's location. It was an unofficial rule that the only people allowed to cross the bridge were Lindsey and Sidney due to magic not working on the otherside, or something like that. The Blue Fairy had explained it to him once, but he didn't really pay attention. Why would he ever need to know?

Except now he needed that information, and because it would be breaking some sort of rule, he had to gather the information covertly. Hence the reason for sending his shadow to follow Sidney and discover the bridge's location.

He followed his shadow out of the hideout, over Neverland, down to world below. He flew over fields, over forests, over rivers, until his shadow finally stopped before a little wooden bridge. Peter looked around, marking the area in his mind so he could find it again later. There was a castle nearby, no doubt belonging to one of the princesses.

Upon landing on the ground, his shadow rejoined Peter willingly and without any needle or thread. Peter was happy about since he didn't know how to sew, and doubted Lindsey did either.

With the bridge in sight, he went to cross, his heart pumping loudly in anticipation. Before he could cross though, a voice spoke from behind.

"Wait!"

The owner of the voice was Cubby, with Tinker Bell flying behind. Peter had thought he had been quiet enough to slip off without the Lost Boys noticing, but he was wrong.

Cubby was out of breath, having rushed to get to Peter before Peter could cross the bridge. "You need these," he said, and shoved some clothes at Peter. "They dress different there."

Tinker Bell flew around Peter's head, chiding him for leaving without her. She told him that the fairies had made clothes for his journey that would allow him to blend in there.

Peter looked at her curiously. Tinker Bell had never liked Wendy, and barely tolerated Lindsey. He had been hoping to cross the bridge and return without her ever knowing. Why was she being so helpful instead of being angry that he wanted to see Lindsey again?

When he asked her that question, she responded with a series of bell-like noises. He would come back, she said, and would be happier which would make her happy.

In addition to Hook, Tink had noticed his mood as well. Maybe he wasn't as good at hiding things as he had initially thought.

He thanked her, and then made a move for the bridge again before Cubby stopped him again.

"I'm going with you. Tink can't come, but I can."

Cubby sounded so determined, and there was a look in his eyes that seemed to dare Peter to say no. Tink nodded her hair in agreement, and said that somebody had to make sure Peter came back if it wasn't her. He then noticed that Cubby had his own bundle of clothes which meant the two had this planned.

It was just supposed to be him and Lindsey, not he, Lindsey, and Cubby. He had a feeling that Cubby would just come anyway, even if he said no. The Lost Boys rarely refused to listen to Peter, but once their minds were made up, there was no changing them. If Tink was even on his side, Peter really didn't have a chance. He couldn't risk any making noise and somebody from the castle deciding to investigate and finding him at the bridge, which would then mean explaining himself.

He sighed. "Alright, you can come, but you can't tell any of the other Lost Boys okay? It'll be just the two of us."

Cubby nodded his head enthusiastically, excited that he was going to go on an adventure with Peter just by himself.

* * *

Lindsey was pouting.

She hadn't slept well last night, most likely to do with the fact she was sharing a roof with a bunch of villains. Once she woke up she had wanted nothing more but to sulk in bed and not face the world that awaited outside her door. She wasn't ready for dealing with a bunch of villains who seemed to think she was their only hope, their 'Princess of Darkness'. Instead she wanted to lay in bed and forget about the fact she wasn't going home anytime soon, and that her sister's boyfriend had tried to poison her.

Maleficent didn't seem to care about what Lindsey wanted. At the crack of dawn she had sent her servants to wake up Lindsey with or without her consent. While she was considerate enough to provide clothing that wasn't a dress, Lindsey wasn't willing to overlook that for having her waken up rudely.

She had then been escorted to a room where Maleficent was sitting on a throne in the middle of the room with her crow perched on her shoulder.

"I'm sure you have many questions, and they all will be answered in time. Tomorrow you will start villain lessons, but today you will get some fresh air and see what you will be fighting for. Anastasia will accompany you to the village below."

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement. Coming into the room was the red-headed step-sister of Cinderella, who must have been Anastasia. Lindsey had never bothered to remember the step-sisters's names, just that they were ugly and had those huge bouncing butts. Her dress was more subdued here than it had been in the movie, and actually appeared normal looking.

At her side, were two small children. Her children, Lindsey realized. A little boy and girl, neither of which could have been older than ten, and both had their faces pressed tightly against their mother. Shy and afraid, though the girl did keep sneaking glances at Lindsey when she thought Lindsey wasn't paying attention to her.

She hadn't been given a chance to say 'no' by Maleficent, but really didn't she would accept 'no' as answer. Lindsey figured it was best for the time being to not piss off the villain who could transform into a giant dragon that could barbecue her.

* * *

Anastasia looked at the girl next to her. Ever since they had left the castle and entered the village, she had barely said anything. They had exchanged introductions and pleasantries, but that was it.

Earlier that morning when she had been called to her mother's and informed that Maleficent wished to see her and her children, Anastasia had been prepared for the worst. What if she had found out about her visits with Ursula and didn't approve? What if she was going to hurt her children? Anastasia vowed that she would be dead before she allowed that to happen, but hoped she wouldn't be forced to do so.

She had been quite surprised to learn that the girl who had been seen fleeing the castle several days ago had returned and Maleficent wanted her to escort the girl around the town, make the villains seem sympathetic.

And what was more sympathetic than cute, innocent children?

As much as Anastasia hated being used in such a way, and her children as well, she had to agree that Maleficent had a point. The only way they were going to succeed was if the girl was completely on their side. No doubt she had been told her entire life that the heroes were good, and the villains were bad, so why should she ally herself with the villains? One unfortunate incident of poisoning Maleficent explained, could not undo years of brainwashing. It might tip the odds in the villain's favor, but it might not keep them there.

However, the girl, Lindsey, had barely shown any interest in the village. How was Anastasia supposed to get the girl to care when she seemed so indifferent?

"Eponine, Marius, why don't you go to Stromboli's and see his puppet show? You've been good so far, we'll come pick you up once we're done." As soon as the coins were in their little hands, they were off and running to Stromboli's.

"What's the matter?" Anastasia demanded. She didn't have the patience to put up with Lindsey's moping all day, not when there were more important matters at hand.

Lindsey debated whether or not to tell her. Upon meeting one of Cinderella's step-sisters, her thoughts had turned to her own sister and their relationship. Specifically the part where Sidney had seemed so accepting of their fate. Last night, her thoughts had been elsewhere, pondering how she could be evil. Now she wondered how Sidney could believe she was evil, and evil enough to die.

"How could she?" Lindsey mumbled. "How could she choose them over me? I've spent my entire life making sure she was happy, how could she choose to just go along with the stupid prophecy instead of going against it?"

"You don't really think that do you?" asked Anastasia.

"What else am I suppose to think?"

"That maybe it never occurred to her that she had a choice?"

"Of course she had a choice! She could have said no!" Lindsey screamed, and stomped her foot for emphasis, reminding Anastasia of the tantrums Eponine would throw when she was a toddler.

Anastasia sighed and then launched into a rant of her own.

"Just like I could have said no to my mother's treatment of Cinderella? Now I know what we did was wrong, but I was just a child then. When my mother proceeded to make Cinderella our servant, I didn't question it. She was an adult, I was a child, how could she be wrong? Your sister has been told since she was a child that she was destined to be a great hero by the very heroes she looked up to. How could she question that? It's so easy for you to condemn her and the prophecy, but you fail to recognize that the older you are, the harder it is to dismiss what you believed to be fundamental truths you learned as a child. Your sister didn't choose the heroes over you, she never realized she had a choice!"

Lindsey considered Anastasia's words, and marveled that they came from a character she had previously thought was too shallow to have such deep insights. As a child she had never questioned how the step-sisters could be so mean, she had just figured it was because they were evil. However, as a child, she had often accepted many things at face value, never bothering to question them. Like the ghost stories her first grade teacher had told the class for Halloween, eating every word up. Or the story her older cousin had told her about the monsters lurking under her bed. Now she knew them to be just stories, but as a child, she had accepted them as truths.

What if it was the same for Sidney? Accepting stories as truths rather than fiction. Accepting her fate as fact rather than speculation. What if there was still hope for things to turn out differently?

Lindsey would have never expected a step-sister of Cinderella's to sympathize with Sidney, let alone, get Lindsey to understand her own sister. Maybe Anastasia wasn't so evil after all. She seemed a decent mother after all, and considering who her own mother was, that seemed quite the accomplishment.

Deciding to give Anastasia and the little town or village place they were in and hadn't bothered noticing before, a chance, Lindsey asked, "I don't remember much of what you said earlier, but you mentioned something about a tavern?"

* * *

Hades decided it was time to pay the Fates a visit. He had 'saved' the girl from the heroes, returned her to the villains, and it was only a matter of time before she led them to victory.

Just to be sure though, he consulted with the Fates.

When the girl and her sister had first shown up, he had paid a visit to the Fates. They had only confirmed that the two girls were the ones from the prophecy, and had refused to tell him any more details.

That didn't mean he had given up on trying to weasel more information out of their decrepit tightly closed hands. He figured one more visit wouldn't hurt.

"Right on time, Hades," said Clotho before he could announce his arrival. That was the problem with dealing with the Fates. They usually knew what you were about to do or say before you did.

"Yes, well, it's kind of hard to be late with you three," he joked, or at least tried.

Lachesis, who was currently in possession of the sole eye the three sisters shared, snorted. "Hasn't stopped you before."

Atrophos reached up and plucked the eye from Lachesis's eye-socket and put it into her own. "Here again to get information about the prophecy out of us."

"Ladies," Hades said as suavely as possible and brought each of their hands to his lips so he could kiss them. "Can't you tell me just one little tidbit, one teensy morsel of information? Surely there's something you can tell me?"

"Oh Hades, you always were the charmer," said Lachesis who had manage to snatch the eye back. "There's really not much we can say, we didn't give the original prophecy- we know what you know."

"Hang on," responded Hades and held up his hand. "What do you mean you didn't give the original prophecy?"

"We outsourced," replied Lachesis bluntly. "How else do you think we've managed to keep up with the demand and increase of souls to reap over the year?"

Clotho bobbed her head in agreement. "There's the Norse pantheon, the Egyptians-"

"Don't forget the spirits in the New World," interjected Atrophos.

"Okay, alright, I can go with that. So if you didn't give the prophecy, who did?" asked Hades.

"We don't know," chirped Lachesis. "That was before our time."

Hades massaged his forehead and could feel a headache coming on. How could it be before their time? They were supposed to be as old as time! They were supposed to be in charge, supposed to know everything that had happened or would happen.

"Why does he always have to bother us? Why can't he go bother any of the others who already know of the outcome," muttered Clotho under her breath.

"Others?" asked Hades. "There are others?" So far this was the juiciest bit of information the sisters had mentioned.

Atrophos smacked Clotho's head which caused the eye to go flying out. "See what you did? He wasn't supposed to know."

"We couldn't have known if you didn't share," snapped Lachesis. She bent down and picked up the eye which had rolled toward her. Not even bothering to wipe it off, she popped it in.

"Right, back to the whole 'others' issue. Who exactly knows?" inquired Hades.

"Not all are heroes, and not all are villains," answered Clotho smugly, for she had figured out a way to answer his question without actually giving an answer.

Hades wasn't satisfied though. "Yes, yes, but how many? Two? Five?"

Lachesis rolled her single eye. "More like three."

"No, four," argued Clotho.

"You're both wrong, it's seven," insisted Atrophos.

There was quite a bit of difference between two and seven. Hades tried to get the Fates to narrow it down. "Two, four, seven... which is it?"

Sighing, Atrophos shook her head. "It's complicated."

"Complicated. How exactly is it complicated?"

By this point, Hades had managed to keep his temper at bay long enough, and his flames were gradually growing taller and becoming redder. He knew the odds of them telling him the straight truth about the outcome of the battle were minimal, and he had been prepared for that. But now they couldn't even give him a straight answer to what should be a simple question. he could understand them keeping mum on the identities, too much information being bad for him blah, blah, blah, but how could they not know how many?

"It's complicated," repeated Atrophos. "We've told you all we could and more, so shoo, get out of her. Your flattery won't get anything else out of us."

"Besides, you have to track down those who know," smiled Clotho, who was now in control of the eye.

Hades smiled as well. He did have to track down the three to seven people who knew. Not all were heroes, and not all were villains. Which meant there had to be at least one villain.

Where to begin?

****Author's Note****

And I posted before midnight- barely. I'm sorry, and please forgive this procrastinator who is easily distracted.

Eight reviews for the last chapter, that blows my mind. I'd like to thank the Invisible Enchantress, Starswim, Raha, Galimatias, Michaelaquinn, SilverRose1937, Pearl Bramble of Willowbottom, and SleepiPanda for reviews. Reviews sometimes gives me ideas such as realizing Sidney's behavior needed an explanation.

It's not as simple as Sidney being horrible and choosing the prophecy over her sister. As Anastasia points out, she never realizes there was a choice. She's known about the prophecy as a child and has accepted it as fact. Similar to Lindsey, there were things I accepted blindly as a child that I wouldn't now that I'm older. Once you accept beliefs to be truths, the older you get, the harder it is to give them up.

I've known I was going to include Pocahontas for a while, but was waiting for the right time to introduce her. I saw the Thomas and Nakoma pairing elsewhere, and decided they would make an interesting couple giving their roles in Kocoum's death.

Fun fact: According to Wikipedia, there is gold in Virginia. Gold mines were built there in the early 1800's and at point it was the third largest state in terms of gold production. Not near Jamestown, but even if there had been gold there, I doubt Ratcliffe would have found it due to the fact he clearly does not know how to mine gold. Most techniques involves water, not digging holes in random locations.

Lindsey and Peter will be featured next chapter, I just had too much going on this chapter and it was cut for time reasons.

The idea of the Fates being able to handle all the lives in a Disney world always seemed laughable to me. Too many lives and not enough time to deal with them all. Since they know the future, it also seemed appropriated they would know of outsourcing.

Also, the fact that there are characters who already know the outcome is something I've planned for a while. There's at least two characters you might be able to figure their identities, and while I'm interested in hearing theories, I won't confirm or deny any. Feel free to speculate though. Also, the exact number of characters is hard to pin down. As the Fates said, it's complicated.

For those who are unfamiliar with Greek mythology, Lachesis knows about the past and is the tallest Fate, Clotho is the middle-sized Fate and knows the present, and Atrophos is the shortest Fate and knows the future.

Thanks for reading, and if you can, please leave a review!


	9. Puppets

I do not own the rights to anything Disney. Next update is March 24th.

**Puppets**

The journey across the bridge wasn't what Peter was expecting. He had thought it would be dangerous, that Hook or some other obstacle would have stopped him, forcing him to fight his way across. Instead, it was as simple as walking across the bridge with Cubby following close behind.

He was actually a little disappointed that it hadn't been more difficult. The whole point of crossing the bridge was to find Lindsey and have fun, and so far he wasn't having any. Lindsey wasn't even there at the other end waiting for him.

"Maybe we got it wrong," said Cubby.

Peter was about to reply when all of a sudden he was drenched in water. How was that possible when it wasn't even raining, and it was sunny outside? He started to look around for the answer when his eyes fell on Lindsey who stood a couple feet away from him, with a blue ball in her right hand. She was older than the last time he had seen her, a couple years at least. She was taller too, still shorter than he was, but only by inches. He hadn't been expecting that, but as long as he was with her, it didn't matter.

She eyed him warily. "Haven't seen you around here before. Who are you?"

She didn't know who he was? Unlike the age thing, that did matter to him. She continued to stare at him, waiting for an answer. "Well?"

"Peter," he said finally. "I'm Peter and this is Teddy."

He didn't know why he had told her Cubby's real name or who he really was. It just seemed like the right thing to do, just like how crossing the bridge was the right thing to do.

Lindsey tossed the ball in her hand to him, and Peter saw that he was wrong about it being a ball. It moved differently and had some sort of liquid inside it. He bounced it a bit before it fell out of his hand and onto the ground, splashing him as it broke open. So this was the source of the water from earlier.

"You've never seen a water balloon before?" Lindsey asked, amused.

"Of course I have," lied Peter. "It fell, that's all."

She laughed at him. "That's alright, I'll show you how to use them if you want. I need some more soldiers anyway."

"Soldiers? What for?" The war and the prophecy were still many years away, she couldn't be preparing for it this young. Then again, she was Lindsey...

"The Water Balloon War. It's me and a couple of my friends versus some of the older kids down the block who won't let us go on the giant slide at the park. We're been using water balloons as a way of attacking them."

"Why don't you use swords? Water doesn't hurt."

"We're not allowed swords, stupid, we're only ten. Water balloons are the only weapons we can use without getting into trouble with our parents. Besides, water balloons can hurt when they're frozen."

The last bit was said with a smile, and there was the Lindsey that Peter knew, using her brain to turn something innocent into a weapon. On Neverland she may have been small, but she always did have a way of using whatever was around her to fight off the pirates. There was even a time she managed to use a stick to hold them off long enough for Peter to arrive.

* * *

Once Anastasia had talked to Lindsey (more like yelled at) Lindsey was able to finally pay attention to her surroundings. So consumed with thoughts regarding her sister's actions, that the village/town Anastasia was leading her through, had passed by in a blur of colors. Now that she could properly focus, she could the town for what it really was.

The dirt streets were narrow and seemed to have been built rather hastily- instead of being planned in a grid design like most cities she knew, they twisted and turned, some leading to dead ends. The buildings were made of the easiest material available, wood, and were a hodge podge of different designs and architecture styles.

Then there were the people. Like Anastasia, most were dressed modestly in basic earth-tone colors which made it harder to see the dirt and grime from the daily wear and tear. They would quickly sneak glances at her, before looking away once they realized Lindsey had noticed them. The children were more obvious than their parents, not bothering to conceal their curiosity and wide-eyed amazement. It wasn't until their parents pulled them away did they close their mouths.

"What's their problem? Honestly, haven't they ever seen a fight before?" grumbled Lindsey who continued following Anastasia.

Anastasia seemed amused at Lindsey's comment for she let out a quiet chuckle. "They're not staring because of the fight, they're staring because it's _you_."

"Me?" asked Lindsey. "What did I do?"

Lindsey nearly fell onto her face due to Anastasia unexpectedly stopping and whirling around to face her. "Don't you know you are? I thought Maleficent would have have explained everything to you."

"Wait you mean the whole prophecy thing?"

The rolling of Anastasia's eyes seemed to indicate that yes, she meant the prophecy thing. "Come on," she said, grabbing Lindsey's hand and leading her down many of the windy streets that made up the town, before finally stopping at one that led to a dead end. At the end of the street was a large crowd of people, the majority of which were children, but there were other ages present as well.

They were all gathered around a small wooden stage that had puppets dancing around on it. At the top of the stage wast the 'Stromboli's' in faded gold letters. As the puppets took a bow, the audience began to clap, and a man came out from behind the stage to collect tips from the audience.

"Is that...?" began Lindsey before trailing off. When Anastasia had first mentioned Stromboli, she hadn't made the connection. Pinocchio had always bored her as a child, so she had never bothered to pay attention. It wasn't until she saw the puppet stage did she realize that it was that Stromboli, the fat guy who had captured Pinocchio somehow and forced him to dance with the Can-Can girls until he got away or something like that. Sidney probably knew who he was.

Except he couldn't be Stromboli- she might not remember much, but she could have sworn he was fat.

Anastasia nodded. "After Pinocchio, his business dropped, and once he was identified as a 'villain' he had no choice but to come here if he wanted to survive."

"Huh," was all Lindsey could really say. "But isn't he supposed to be mean and greedy, anyway? Wasn't he already a villain?"

"You mean like how I was a villain?"

Lindsey felt her cheeks turn red from embarrassment. This was the second time Anastasia made her feel bad for something she said, which was a record that Lindsey's parents, Hailey, and Sidney had never come close to. Normally Lindsey wouldn't have thought twice about implying something was a terrible person (something that she did rather often actually) but there was something about the look Anastasia would give her. It seemed so full of hope and disappointment at the same time, like she desperately wanted Lindsey to be something she clearly wasn't. Lindsey had seen that look before, but for some reason this was the first time she felt any guilt for causing it.

"I didn't just become a villain overnight, Lindsey, and neither did he. Did you know that he originally wanted to be a musician, but his father forced him to takeover the family puppet business which he hated? Or that the reason he's considered 'greedy' is because he was desperate for money to save his dying wife? And that she died after he was ostracized once people learned what he did to Pinocchio? He never considered him to be real, just an abandoned enchanted puppet."

And there was the guilt feeling in the pit of Lindsey's stomach again, which she didn't like at all.

"Is everybody like that around here? Misunderstood?"

"The majority, yes. Some like my husband were sidekicks to villains. Others like me are related to them. There's people like Stromboli who didn't know they were a villain until it was too late. Then there's some who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time or had no other place to go. I suppose there are some like Maleficent who enjoy being evil, but most never had a choice."

At that moment Eponine and Marius came running up excitedly to Anastasia, throwing their arms around her.

"Mama, mama," said Eponine, "Can we go to Kronk's?"

"I just brought home pastries from there yesterday."

"Please?" begged Marius. "Not for us, but for her, she's never been," he added, referring to Lindsey.

Anastasia looked at her children's big eyes and started to do some math in her head, trying to figure out if she could afford another trip there so soon.

"It'd be my treat," volunteered Lindsey and pulled out a drawstring pouch that had been in one of her pockets. "I'm assuming that this wasn't placed with my clothes by accident, and if it was, well that's not my fault. Who's up for spending some of Maleficent's money?"

* * *

Peter was itching to move, but it was at Lindsey's insistence that they wait for the right moment to strike that caused him to be still. He was hiding in the bushes behind the park with her, Cubby, and some of her friends watching the older kids on the playground. When she had said Water Balloon War he had been imagining epic fights. Laying Around and Doing Nothing War would have been a more accurate description.

After fumbling around with the balloon, Lindsey's opinion of Peter had been dropping. He had thought her world would be like Wendy's England, but he had been wrong. The majority of his afternoon had been spent taking in everything around him- the strange carriages on the road called cars, one of which had almost hit him before Lindsey pulled him out the way; the way the people around him dressed and talked. Events and objects that Lindsey and her other friends talked about that he and Cubby had no knowledge about, but pretended to know anyway.

The strangest part though was the lack of the magic. Several times he had found himself trying to fly, only to not move from the ground at all. It was frustrating, and several times he found himself wishing he had never crossed the bridge- Peter didn't know who he was without his ability to fly. He might as well be as useless as Hook.

But he had to prove himself to Lindsey before he could return to Neverland. He was Peter Pan, leader of the Lost Boys, Captain Hook's nemesis, friend of the fairies. He wasn't a nobody, a loser. Now he just needed Lindsey to realize that he was awesome as he actually was.

Deciding that he wasn't willing to wait around any longer, he looked around in order to come up with some sort of planning. Rushing the playground area was not an option since the kids were scattered about with water balloons of their own, on the look-out for any intruders, and it wasn't like Peter could surprise them from above.

Then he had an idea.

* * *

Lindsey was starting to think that Anastasia had a point about the people living in the town being misunderstood. For example, there was Kronk from that Emperor movie. He didn't have an evil bone in his body, and made such delicious food that he could have been a popular chef in her world. Yzma's name may have been on the front door, but she quickly realized that everybody came because of Kronk. It really was unfair that he was stuck here simply because he had been Yzma's minion.

He didn't seem to let that get him down though. Kronk happily chatted to Anastasia, giving her children free samples, while Lindsey sat back and watched the interaction. Yzma was torn between glaring at Anastasia and Lindsey, not buying the story of her being some distance relative as easily as Kronk. Anastasia had pulled her aside before entering, explaining they would need a story of some sort otherwise Yzma would never leave Lindsey alone if Yzma knew who she really was.

Lindsey was happily munching on her third crepe when she realized things here really were unfair and needed to be changed. Before her loyalty to the villains had been because they had screwed her over the less, and she really didn't care who won or lost. Now she was actually starting to care about the people though, which was undoubtedly what Maleficent intended all along.

She was even okay with that. Maleficent's outing had worked- Lindsey had learned that not all villains were true villains, and some were just people who were in circumstances beyond their control. If the heroes were stupid enough to think that somebody like Kronk could be an evil villain intent on world domination, well they deserved to get their asses kicked. Lindsey might not know Eponine and Marius that well, but they seemed good and didn't deserve to go around with the label of villain on their foreheads all their lives just because of who their parents were. That kind of treatment would ensure them growing up into villains.

While Lindsey would help them, she decided it would be on her own terms, not Maleficent's. Lindsey wasn't going to be anybody's puppet, let alone hers and the villains. She wouldn't let them treat her like Stromboli treated Pinocchio, pulling her strings, forcing her to go to 'villain lessons' whatever those were. If they didn't like that, well they could just go ahead and find themselves another a hero, or villain... well whatever she was to them.

Once they were done at Kronk's, Anastasia led the way to the tavern- finally. A dark shadow fell on them, causing the group and others in the streets to look up at the sky to determine whether or not the source was friend or foe.

"It's Hook's ship," Anastasia said, "He's returned."

****Author's Note****

I'm not really happy with this chapter which is probably why it took so long to write. It's pretty much filler which I hate to write- trying to wrap the Peter part up and the part with Lindsey realizing why she wants to fight. I hate

I'd like to thank SilverRose1937, my only reviewer last chapter. It was a bit sad only getting one review after getting eight for the last chapter.

Next chapter will finally be done with Peter's past with Lindsey. Hook will appear, and villain lessons will be explained.

Some of you may have noticed by now, but I believe that all the villains have a back story explaining their motives for being 'evil'. Stromboli is just another shot, and I tried to stick as close to canon as possible. Like Lindsey he never stood out in my mind other than the fat evil guy who forces Pinocchio to dance with the other puppets. Greedy and hot-tempered yes, but really not as intimidating as Maleficent, Hades, Jafar, and some of the other villains.


	10. Planning for the Future

I do not own the rights to anything Disney. Next update is April 7th.

**Planning for the Future**

Captain James Tiberius Hook paced back and forth on the deck of his ship. Time passed differently in Neverland, sometimes slow, sometimes fast... sometimes barely at all. He had become accustomed to the slow march of time, but that didn't mean he was a patient man. If it was up to him, time would move faster than one could blink.

As soon as Shan Yu had received word via his falcon, Hayabusa, from Maleficent that the girl was at her castle, Hook had given the orders to abandon the air strike on the Forbidden City and to return to the mountains at once. They had done enough damage to the Chinese army to slow them down for the time being, preventing them from coming to the other kingdoms aid in the future. What was important was seeing to the girl, and that she did her part.

Shan Yu was just one of the many villains on Hook's ship in addition to his regular crew. There was Jafar who was in charge of all magical defenses and attacks, and Gaston who made up for his inability to keep his mouth shut with his sharpshooting skills. Besides communicating with Maleficient, Shan Yu was in charge of the Huns on the ground, sending his falcon with orders from his advantage point on Hook's ship, looking down onto the vast land below.

Ratcliffe was also on the ship, but having tried to commandeer the ship from Hook's command, he had been confined to a holding cell in one of the ship's lower levels. Hook had originally planned to throw him overboard to rid the villains of the nuisance, but then he found a use for Ratcliffe- a new obsession for Mim.

For some unknown reason, Mad Madam Mim had attached herself to Hook, even going as far as stowing away on his ship. Since she had magic and was actually useful to the villains, Hook couldn't simply chuck over the side of the ship and be done with her like he could Ratcliffe. So instead he introduced her to Ratcliffe hoping she would transfer her unhealthy obsession from Hook to him, which worked rather well. Hook may have been a captain, but Ratcliffe shared her love of wearing purple, which made him more desirable than Hook in her eyes. Of course, Ratcliffe didn't recipocate her affections, loudly demanding to be freed from his cell, but none of the villains really cared. His own real use seemed to be keeping Mim out of their hair with her crazy schemes that more often than not would only backfire on the villains or set them back.

Jafar sidled up to Hook, joining him at his spot at the rail. In the distance mountain peaks were gradually coming into view. Starting out as blurry images that were becoming clearer and clearer. Soon Hook would have to give the order to increase altitude to avoid crashing, but for the time being the ship's position was fine.

"Somebody's anxious. You've been out here all morning, your stash of alcohol must be getting rather lonely by now."

"With Smee keeping it company, I'm sure it'll manage without me somehow," responded Hook dryly, causing Jafar to chuckle.

Jafar's light tone then turned more serious. "How sure are we about this girl? Hades and Maleficent have been going on for years that she's the key to our future, but how do we know it's true? The last time I was told my fate was in the hands of some child, the results were disastrous- an experience I do not care to repeat."

"Please," snorted Hook. "While your concerns are not unfounded, Lindsey is no mere street rat. She'll play her role and will lead us to victory."

"Lindsey?" asked Jafar, raising an eyebrow. "Since when are you on a first name basis with the girl?"

"Since she used to cavort with that boy and sneak onto my ship all the time as a child," retorted Hook. "The number of times I caught her lurking around trying to steal my treasure and denying she was a Lost Boy led to me becoming well acquainted with her."

"Trying to steal your treasure as a child?" laughed Jafar. "Perhaps she is a proper villain after all."

A smile made it's way across Hook's face. "Oh yes. So proper that once everything is over, I'll be rid of Pan once and for all thanks to her. No more crowing, no more tick-tocking, no more flying and no more bothering me. I'll be free of him- for good."

"Now that's something worth celebrating," smirked Jafar.

"Indeed."

* * *

Peter had never had ice cream before, but he was becoming really fond of it. The way it slid down his throat all cool and refreshing, the way he could shape it with his tongue as he licked it off of the cone. Even the way it made his head hurt and its stickiness didn't bother him. If anything, he just loved it more.

The ice cream had been Lindsey's treat for Peter's successful, albeit crazy, plan.

Realizing that there was no way to advance forward without being noticed, Peter decided the best tactic was a distraction. Grabbing Cubby, Peter pulled him aside and told him his idea, and both boys managed to slip away from the group without being noticed.

The playground the older children were on was situated in the northeast corner of the park. To the north, east, and west were clusters of trees and bushes, while to the south was a road. Lindsey and the others were hiding out of sight in the bushes and trees to the west, so Peter made his way to the north, while Cubby moved to the east.

He positioned himself up high in a tree, using the leaves and branches as cover. From his spot he could see the kids below him, but unless they looked up, they wouldn't be able to see him. Peter brought his hands to mouth, and ever so softly, began to make bird calls. Hearing Peter, Cubby then joined in.

The noises themselves weren't anything suspicious. They were in a park with trees, so birds were common and the kids on the jungle gym didn't really notice. Peter gradually increased the noise with Cubby, creating a crescendo, with other birds in the park adding their vocals.

It was by this point the kids started to notice the ever increasing noise around them. Birds were loud, but not that loud. Raising their balloons above their heads, a few started to bravely venture away from their safe haven, curious as to what was going on. They even managed to get close to Peter's tree and Cubby's tree, failing to spot the source of the noise above them.

With their backs turned to the west, Lindsey and her group seized the opportunity and quietly snuck across park. Several other children and adults watched the spectacle unfold- a small group of kids skulking about as if they were in a spy movie, before yelling their heads off and charging wildly, throwing their balloons at anybody who got in their way.

By the time the older kids had noticed the surprise attack it was too late. They were drenched and their perch on the jungle gym had been taken over. Their water balloon supply had been depleted easily since many had dropped the balloons in their arms in surprise at the screaming children who were running toward them. Others had thrown their balloons, but quickly had ran out of ammo while Lindsey and her friends still had plenty.

Peter dropped down to the ground once he saw Lindsey was in sight, and she soon spotted him. "That was brilliant. At first we weren't too sure what you were doing, but then we realized it was a distraction."

Lindsey's praise caused Peter to smile, and if he had been in Neverland he would have been zipping around in the air due to the hugeness of the happiness that was quickly filling every corner and niche of him.

The ice cream just topped it off.

* * *

Lindsey surveyed the group of villains before her.

Instead of going to the tavern, Anastasia had ushered Lindsey back to the castle, much to Lindsey's disappointment. Lindsey had never been to an actual tavern that served actual all- the closest she had ever gotten was the one that served butterbeer in the Harry Potter village at Universal Studios when she was eighteen, during her first spring break- and she had been looking forward to it.

Anastasia's explanation was that with Hook back, Jafar, Gaston, and other villains on his ship would be gathering with the villains at the castle and in the village to discuss what the next part of their plan was now that Lindsey was here. Such a gathering hadn't happened in years, and Lindsey would be at the center of it.

With so much attention on her, it was vital that she get her point across that she was not going to be their puppet. She was going to do things her way.

Now she just had to get through her speech without looking like an idiot. She grabbed a nearby glass of wine to calm her nerve and took in her surroundings.

The room they were gathered in was large, but seldom used, judging by the dust and cobwebs in the dark corners. Either that or Maleficent really enjoyed the creepy haunted house vibe the room was giving off, which Lindsey could believe.

At the far end of the room was a long, large oak table that had gouges and notches dotting it, showing signs of extreme physical abuse. The villains were seated in chairs around it, with Maleficent on the tallest and grandest chair that appeared to be more of a throne in the middle. Hades was to her right, helping himself to a leg of some kind of roast that was before him on the table. He looked at it before setting it on fire for a couple seconds and then taking a bite out of it.

To her left was Captain Hook who was in some sort of a discussion with Jafar. Also present, Lindsey recognized Ursula in her Vanessa form who was cuddled up against Gaston. The evil queen from Snow White seemed to be in argument of some sort with the woman Lindsey had learned was Mother Gothel, while Cinderella's step-mother watched on in amusement next to Frollo. The creepy guy from Mulan was stroking his falcon, while Yzma tried in vain to get his attention. Kronk was going in out of the room with platters full of delicious looking food, delighted that he had been asked to cater the event. There was a woman with wild purple hair who was attempting to pull out the villain from Pocahontas out from under the table where he was hiding. Anastasia was present with her husband and both were off to the side of the room talking to some of the lesser known villains and their sidekicks.

Lindsey cleared her voice loudly, hoping to direct the attention to her and to shut up the chatty villains. She hadn't been there for that long, but she had already picked up on the fact that villains seemed to gossip worse than a bunch of high school girls.

"I'm not an idiot, I know all of you manipulated me into being here and feeling sorry for you. I can't blame you for that since I would have done the same thing in your situation. What we need to talk now is of the future and where we go from here. Before I tell you my plan, I'd like to hear any that you have."

There, straight and to the point. No beating around the bush, no smooth talking, but straight and to the point which was who Lindsey was. The villains all looked amused at her, as if they hadn't expected her to already have a plan.

"The plan is," said Maleficent, "for you to receive instructions in sword fighting from Captain Hook, a basic understanding of our history and geography from Frollo, and magic from myself and several others similar to how the heroes are preparing your sister."

"And then what?" asked Lindsey, who had already guessed at the lessons but had just been waiting for confirmation. "Have some sort of epic battle showdown between us and them, the winner being the last one standing? Sorry, but look how well that turned out for all of you. If I remember right, the majority of you died when you went against your heroes... wait, how are you alive anyway?"

"That would be me, sweet cheeks," said Hades raising a hand. "With so many powerful villains kaput, it was going to be hell fighting the goody two-shoes. As the god of the dead I thought to myself, hey, why not give them a get out of the Underworld free card?"

Lindsey's face lit up at that information. Perhaps she had been going about this all wrong, perhaps there was a chance that both her and Sidney would make it through this alive after all, perhaps...

Her hopes were dashed when Hades opened his mouth again, no doubt guessing correctly where her next line of questioning was about to go. Waving a finger at her he said, "Sorry, no can do kiddo. If you or your sister kicks the bucket here, you're gone for good. You're not from this world, so you won't go to the Underworld."

Lindsey should have known there wasn't such a thing as an easy way out; life just wasn't that fair.

Her shoulders sagged, but Lindsey was determined to move forward with her plan. "Okay, forget that then. As I was saying, the whole direct attack approach hasn't worked for you in the past. Even if I do the lessons, that doesn't change all the years of experience Sidney has on me."

"Then what do you suggest?" asked Maleficent.

"Taking a different approach. From what I can tell, all you really want is some respect, for the heroes to stop invading your lands and territories, for them to stop bothering you and letting you leave in peace. You need to go after them in a legitimate way, something that they can't label as a villainous act. Otherwise, they'll rise up and say they have to fight you because you're the villains and need to be punished, and then they'll win. In my world it's possible to rule the world without breaking a single law."

The villains murmured among themselves, taking in what she had said and discussing its merit.

"Alright girl," said Hook, "What exactly does this plan of yours involve?"

"Well, first, there are a couple things I need to know about this world. Tell me, how does the economy of this world work?"

* * *

The Great Water Balloon War had just been the start of that summer. There was the night when Peter and Cubby joined Lindsey at Dead Man's Creek, trying to see the ghost of the little boy who had supposedly vanished there years ago, slipping into the waters never to be seen again- at least, that's how the story went. The trio searched for bury treasure, only ever finding arrow heads. Peter managed to further impress Lindsey with his impersonation skills by imitating her parents on several occasions. They also had lots and lots of ice cream, and other cold treats called Popsicles.

When Peter returned to Neverland, he was happier than he had been in a long time. There was an extra zip as he flew around the island, an extra sparkle of mischief in his eye. Hook noticed the difference immediately, commenting that he was glad Peter had found the girl for it meant Hook could kill Peter without feeling any guilt. Peter's response was to tear a hole in his pants, revealing his underwear to the whole crew, just like the old times.

More summers passed. Lindsey believed that Peter and Cubby, or Teddy as she knew him, came to town every summer to be with their grandparents who didn't like strangers and were rather strict, explaining why Lindsey had never met them.

Other adventures included the summer when the nearby river had flooded and they snuck onto the levee to see it, before being chased away by the police. Then there was the summer Lindsey took the keys to her parent's car in order to teach Peter how to drive, despite not knowing how to drive herself. The following summer, when she could legally drive, they went racing down the back roads and hills in such a way that Peter had never been more grateful to be on the ground. After that, he refused to ever ride in a car that Lindsey was driving again. That was a level of fun that was too much, even for him.

It was the third summer with her, when she was twelve, did he notice that he and Cubby were growing older. He hadn't noticed it at first, and probably wouldn't have noticed if his voice hadn't squeaked one day. Confused, Andrew, one of Lindsey and Peter's friends pulled him aside to explain something called puberty, which left Peter even more confused. Puberty meant growing up, becoming an adult. He was Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up. So how was it possible?

Tink, who had noticed the changes as well, went to the fairies for an answer. When she returned, she explained that because of the lack of magic in Lindsey's world, he had started to age with each visit. If he continued to visit her, he would eventually grow up.

The look on Tinker Bell's face as she relayed the message nearly broke Peter's heart. She had been with him since he first came to Neverland, and didn't want Peter to grow up.

But, Peter couldn't stop visiting Lindsey. Lindsey was his friend, just as much as Tink was. Choosing between the two was impossible, so he decided to choose both. He limited his visits to Lindsey to just a couple visits each summer, slowing down his growth.

Yet he still grew, as much as he hated it. Convincing the royals that it was Neverland's magic in order to increase his chances against the villains, allowed him to continue staying with the Lost Boys at Neverland despite not being a boy for a very long time. Even Cubby was still more of a boy, than he was. Hook's only comment was that Peter had turned into a gangily-looking chicken that provided Hook with more surface area to hit.

After seeing Lindsey at the castle, Peter realized that an even harder choice was coming for him, one that he couldn't weasel his way out of easily as he had the growing up choice. He wouldn't be able to avoid making a choice this time.

It was apparent to him that the heroes underestimated Lindsey. After all the summers he had spent with her, he knew she was more than capable of leading the villains to victory just like she had that afternoon on the playground.

Peter was going to have to choose between fighting with his allies, the heroes, or fighting against Lindsey and the villains.

It was a choice he would never be ready to make, and might just kill him when the time came.

Why did growing up have to be so hard?

****Author's Note****

A huge thanks goes to my reviewers. Going from one review to twelve reviews from six different people is awesome and made my week. So I'd like to thank The Invisible Enchantress, Pearl Bramble of Willowbottom, Daydreamer747, civilwarrose, pjgarlach, and Deathstroke Terminator for reviews. Keep them coming.

Daydreamer747: I believe that all villains have a backstory, and they're not as evil as Disney portrays them. As for the prophecy, that's something which is still very far away from being dealt with.

A couple notes on this chapter: I don't know where Tiberius came from, but it popped into my head for Hook. Hayabusa, according to the Disney Wikia is the actual name for Shan Yu's falcon. Also according to the Disney Wikia, Disney at one point depicted Madam Mim being obsessed with Hook in comics, so I decided to go with that idea.

Lindsey's plan for the villains comes from an unused plot for a Loki and Avengers fic I never wrote which was about how Loki, being as smart as he is, should have taken over Earth in a completely legit way that would have rendered the Avengers unable to stop him. I never got around to writing it, but I still love the idea behind it, so it'll be seen here.

I'm surprised nobody called me on it before, but the whole dying in Disney for real fact is something I've had plan for a while. There's a reason why a lot of the former dead villains walking around, and why it can't be that simple for Lindsey and Sidney.

The Peter and Lindsey backstory is finished at last. When he first started visiting Lindsey, he was around 11-12, and she was 10. Now he's 18-19 and she's 21. He's grown-up, but she still has a couple years on him.

Next chapter will have a better explanation of Lindsey's plan, and she begins villain lessons which features a slight magical mishap that I've planned for such a long time, I'm really looking forward to revealing.

Thanks for reading, and if possible, please leave a review!


	11. Magical Mishaps

I do not own the rights to anything Disney or Girl Scouts. Next update is April 21st.

**Magical Mishaps**

In school, Sidney had always been the one with straight A's, while Lindsey had straight C's. Lindsey wasn't dumb, and could have gotten A's if she wanted to- she just didn't have the ambition.

Her ambition went to other things. Such as changing her major to economics in order to impress a cute boy who was an econ major and to spend as many classes with him as possible. Or the summer when she was twelve and she wanted an iPod since her parents had refused to buy it for her, calling it a 'fad', and saying it would go the way of the Tamagotchi and Furby. Or how she would have movie marathons in order to procrastinate homework and studying.

To anyone else, those three things would seem unrelated. To Lindsey, they served as the inspiration for her plan for the villains.

One of the econ classes she took before switching majors was called, 'World History Of Economics'. A boring title for what was surely to be a boring class, but Lindsey was pleasantly surprised. The teacher made the class interesting, and Lindsey actually started to pay attention once she discovered that her crush, who had turned into a boyfriend, had cheated on her with the TA for the class.

What she had learned was that whoever controlled the goods the world wanted, essentially controlled the world. There was a reason Asia and Africa dominated the world power-wise, until Europeans started colonizing the Americas. The actual purpose of Columbus's journey in the first place was to find a shorter route to the East Indies to gain an advantage on the spice trade. Who would have thought that table condiments had once been so valuable?

As long as you had what others wanted, people would be willing to do anything for it. That was true, in even today's world. Threaten to raise taxes, or limit the public's rights, people would just moan and complain. Take away their electricity, games, internet, and cable, and they'd be reduced to cry babies. Lindsey experienced that first hand during her freshman year and the power went out for a night at the dorms. Everybody had gone to the hallways to savor the emergency light and come up with ways to starve off the boredom. She had never been more thankful for the invention of glow sticks.

When she was eleven, she had wanted an iPod. When her parents said no, she realized that she might have to get creative. Her grandmother, sympathetic to her plight, gave her the hundred dollars in cash which would have been spent on birthday presents. It wasn't enough for the iPod, but it was a start and did give Lindsey a rather brilliant idea.

Instead of trying to scrape together the rest of the money, she decided to invest the money her grandmother gave her. Of course, being twelve meant one was limited as to what they could invest in, but there were still a few available- such as Girl Scout cookies.

Her birthday was in January, and she put her plan into action the following month. Naturally, Sidney was still in Girl Scouts (Lindsey had dropped out as soon as she discovered her first year would be spent as a flower. Why be a Daisy when you could be a Brownie?), so Lindsey bought as many Thin Mints, Tagalongs, and Samoas as she could afford from Sidney, claiming she wanted to be fully stocked for the year. Her parents couldn't say anything because it was her money, and her sister was happy because it boosted her sale numbers considerably.

Then she waited until the summer.

By that point, most of the cookies everybody else had bought were gone. With the high temperature, wouldn't a frozen Thin Mint hit the spot? That was what she was counting on- offering the cookies at twice the price she paid for them. Was it legal? Probably not, but she was twelve so what did she know about copyrights?

She (along with Peter and Teddy who helped, despite eating several boxes) managed to sell out within weeks, and got her iPod with some money leftover. She had always figured Sidney had been too oblivious to find out, but now knew that she was more concerned about going to Disney every day in the summer rather than an a sudden abundance in Girl Scout cookies on playgrounds and in the neighborhood.

Watching movies, especially action/superhero ones, made her realize that villains were idiots. Why announce you're taking over the earth and go around smashing everything? You're practically inviting a hero to stop you, and the people of earth to hate you. Instead, the villains should have read the Evil Overlord's list, and gone about world domination in a more discreet manner, so by the time the hero discovered their evil plan it would be too late to stop them.

All of these lessons combined into one perfect, ultimate, completely legal plan to defeat the heroes.

The little field trip into the village with Anastasia had shown Lindsey the disparity between the lifestyle of those at Sleeping Beauty's castle and those at Maleficent's. One was full of perfumes, silks, jewelry, and fine foods. The other was full of dull, rough fabric, dirt and soot, and survival. Kronk's food was just one of the few highlights in an otherwise gloomy place.

All those silks, perfumes, jewelry and other extravagant goods had to come from so where, and the villains confirmed Lindsey's theory- mostly from China and Kuzco's empire in South America. The dwarves's mines and Wonderland did supply some, but the majority came from elsewhere.

Because the goods came from so far away, it took months for them to reach their destinations. Which was where Lindsey's plan came in. If the villains had a faster means of transportation, they could compete in the global market, perhaps even dominate it due to no anti-monopoly or anti-trust laws in this world. Furthermore, if they could drive all the others out of business, they could increase the prices of the goods over time, driving the kingdoms to bankruptcy, and eventually gaining control over the royals and the heroes.

Lindsey's plan revolved around Hook's ship. In her world, goods were primarily transported by freight, roads, or water because it was impractical to do so by air. Air was faster, but the more weight transported meant more gas was needed to to fly the aircraft, which then added to the weight of the aircraft and continued the cycle. So while air was faster, it was also more expensive.

Hook's ship however, flew due to the magic of pixie dust, no money needed. Instead of fighting Peter (which was a bonus of Lindsey's plan) he could start carrying goods from China and other faraway lands. A company that was unrelated to the villains would have to be set up so the heroes wouldn't be suspicious and buy from the company. Lindsey had a plan for that- asking Stromboli to head it. The man may be greedy, but he knew money and could bargain, and very few heroes knew who he was anymore. His involvement with Pinocchio had happened years ago, and while the damage had been done, many heroes and royals had forgotten who he was. Add in a slight name change, and they would be good to go.

Not all the villains agreed with her plan and after several loud vocal objections, misfiring of spells, and threats of violence, everyone had come to an agreement. While Lindsey's plan was going into effect, she would receive villain lessons.. After all, surely two plans were better than none.

Besides, how bad could the lessons be?

* * *

Captain Hook was a sadist.

That was the only explanation Lindsey could come up with.

From what she could remember of Peter Pan, he was silly, klutzy prone to overreacting. An hour into their lesson and Lindsey had learned that wasn't a completely accurate statement. He was quick to anger, had a flair for the dramatic, but knew how to fight with a sword. After an hour of being yelled at for her poor stature and footwork, Lindsey had asked what happened to that Hook.

With a sneer he replied, "Don't believe everything you see in those ridiculous portrayals of us. By the way, we don't sing either."

And so the lesson continued. Her arms hurt, her back hurt, she was sweatier than she could ever remember, and she still had several hours before lunch. It didn't help that he had started the lessons at six in the morning, not that she had gotten much sleep during the night anyway.

"Thrust forward! Now block! I said block!" Hook yelled at her.

"I'm trying to, you're just moving too fast!" Lindsey screamed back in frustration.

"Do you think your sister or any of her little hero friends will be nice enough to slow down for you?" he laughed callously. Taken advantage of her momentary distraction while she thought about the comment, he managed to knock the sword away from her hand. His sword was pressed against her neck, and desperate to get away, Lindsey stepped back only to fall backwards on her butt which _hurt._

"Congratulations, you're dead. Now get back up and try again."

"No," argued Lindsey, crossing her arms. "No more, I'm done. Fighting with swords is stupid anyway, you're just asking to get stabbed."

"Now surely you don't mean that miss," said Smee. Up to then he had been quietly standing at the side watching the sparring lesson unfold. Occasionally he'd run to Hook and dab his forehead, hand him a drink, or a sword. Hook had given him strict instructions that if Lindsey was going to learn, she couldn't be pampered. Besides, Smee worked for Hook, not her.

"Oh yes, by all means quit now, just like you've quit everything else in your life whenever it became too difficult. But if you quit now, your little plan is done."

The smirk on Hook's face caused Lindsey's hand to start itching to slap him. How dare he call her a quitter! She wasn't a quitter, she was just lazy and liked to stay away from the spotlight. There was a difference. But her plan wouldn't succeed without Hook's ship... A solution formed in her mind.

"Then get somebody else to teach me," she replied with a smirk of her own.

"Girl, do you know why I volunteered to be your teacher? The only other option was Shan Yu, and his teaching philosophy is along the lines of, 'learn fast or die painfully'. Now back onto your feet!"

Lindsey swore under her breath and slowly stood back up. She needed Hook's ship, she reminded herself. She needed Hook's ship. If she had his ship, everybody might live because there would be no epic battle.

Surely that would be worth her death to Hook's training.

* * *

Magic lessons with Maleficent, Ursula, Snow White's step-mother, and Jafar were going much better. For starters she actually got to sit down. The room was crowded with all those present, but none wanted her to learn exclusively from the others. Basically they didn't trust each other to properly teach Lindsey magic. Lindsey was fine with that. By arguing they used up the time they could be teaching her, allowing her to zone out and recover from her morning session.

Jafar began the lesson by explaining how magic worked. Most who studied magic had to work through a medium of some sort such as a staff, a gem, or in Sidney's case, her sword. Not all could do magic, but he was so sure that with hard work and dedication, Lindsey would be more than capable.

Clearly he didn't know Lindsey.

While he babbled on about theory and conservation of energy, Lindsey started to nod off. A rubbing sensation against her leg jolted her awake, but Jafar didn't seem to notice and continued to draw a complex diagram on an old chalkboard that had been scrounged up from somewhere. Her other instructors had stepped out of the room in order to get away from Jafar's dull lesson- they already knew the basics, no need to waste their time once they had established who was going to teach what. Iago left with them, saying if he was going to have a nap it might as well be somewhere comfortable.

Looking down, Lindsey saw to her surprise it was Lucifer. Cinderella's step-mother had brought him with her the night before, only for him to run after Maleficent's crow as soon as he spotted it. Nobody had been able to find him since, yet he had somehow squeezed himself through the small opening the door allowed and was now looking for some attention and a warm spot to nap.

"Why don't you just go home?" whispered Lindsey. "She's looking for you, practically teared up the castle last night."

"Meow?" was her only response, while Jafar continued on about something called the three T's. What tea had to do with magic, Lindsey didn't know, nor did she really care. She promised to go to the lessons, not to pay attention, which was easier with Jafar than it was with Hook.

"Fine, come on," Lindsey said, and Lucifer wasted no time before hopping onto her lap and settling down for a nap. Lindsey was about ready for a nap as well, when Jafar finally stopped.

"Any questions?" he asked once he was done.

"Nope," answered Lindsey, who hadn't learned anything so far. Just like her usual college classes. Sure she should be paying attention, but really, how much would she learn? Sidney had years on her, and a couple of lessons wasn't going to change that.

"Good, apparently you're not as dumb as you look," he said before sweeping out of the room in a grand fashion. Lindsey rolled her eyes at his ridiculousness. He considered himself so smart, but didn't notice her lack of attention or the cat on her lap at all. No wonder Jasmine was able to fool him so easily with the whole seductress thing, or it took him so long to figure out who Aladdin was.

Ursula and the former evil queen entered the room and began talking about potions, what they could accomplish, and how to brew them. Lindsey actually found the lesson semi-interesting probably because it seemed so similar to a lesson from Harry Potter. Anybody it seemed could do potions as long as they followed the recipe. It was a bit like cooking really, the only difference being if the ingredients were added in the wrong order it might explode or something, from what Lindsey gathered.

The best part was they were actually going to allow her to make a potion on her first day. There was a long table which she had been sitting at, but on the table in front of her was a cauldron that she barely glanced at when she entered the room, not thinking they would allow her to use it so soon.

As gently as she could, she put a disgruntled Lucifer on the ground, causing him to give her a 'How Dare You Interrupt My Nap' glare. Lindsey ignored him and went to the front of the room where Ursula and the queen were preparing the ingredients. The potion she was going to prepare was a supposed to be a simple healing potion meant to rejuvenate and renew the drinker. It couldn't be taken all the time, otherwise the user would build up a tolerance, but otherwise the user would be left feeling like a new person. Lindsey had been expecting to brew evil poisonous potions given the instructors, but they had explained Lindsey would be more likely to need a healing potion than a poison in the upcoming war. Besides, all of her enemies would be too smart to allow her to get to close to poison them, or accept anything to eat or drink from her.

Once they were done cutting up the herbs and other ingredients Lindsey couldn't identify- they had told her, but she only been half paying attention- they began adding the ingredients once the cauldron had started to boil the water inside. Lindsey added the ingredients as she was told to- some slimy looking green things, some white powdery stuff, the herbs she had chopped up, and some vile smelling purple liquid. After stirring the concoction for several minutes, it began to turn a deep pink color, and the former queen extinguished the flames underneath in order for the potion to set up.

What happened next, could only be called chaotic. Ratcliffe, the villain from Pocahontas entered the room, loudly slamming the door behind him and attempting to drag a nearby chair in front of the door to block it.

"There, that should keep that madwoman out," he muttered, unaware of the other inhabitants in the room.

Lindsey didn't have to wonder for long what madwoman he was referring to for long. The door, which was wooden, turned to ash instantly revealing a small woman with crazy purple hair.

"There you are Pookey," she said running to Ratcliffe. "I was wondering where you ran off to! Oh, a dark, dank, dungeon, how romantic!" she said and clapped her hands together and batted her eyelashes at him.

The dungeon they were in wasn't that dark or dank, but who was Lindsey to argue with a madwoman?

"Get your putrid hands off me," Ratcliffe growled, stepping back.

Unfortunately it was onto Lucifer's tail which caused the cat to let out a loud yelp. The noise startled Mim who released her death grip on Ratcliffe. "Oh, a kitty cat!"

Not wanting to end up in Mim's arms, Lucifer made a dash for Lindsey since Mim was currently blocking the way out of the room. Mim followed Lucifer, climbing on top of the tables to reach him faster, enjoying the chase.

The chase ended as she caught hold of Lucifer's tail and both fell into the cauldron full of the cooling healing potion. There was a loud explosion, with purple and pink smoke was emitted from the cauldron. Within seconds the smoke was dissipating out of the cleared doorway leaving Lindsey and the others to process what had just happened when a movement from the cauldron caught Lindsey's eye.

Emerging from the cauldron was a figure that wasn't Lucifer and wasn't Mad Madam Mim.

"I must say," said the Cheshire Cat who was inspecting his new paws and fur closely, "I feel rather... odd."

****Author's Note****

I'd like to thank Deathstroke Terminator, civilwarrose, and the Invisible Enchantress for reviews.

I mean no disrespect to the Girl Scouts or their cookies, but there have been several summers when I've wanted cookies only to have none. Especially frozen Thin Mints. For those curious since the timeline is a bit vague, but this is occurring in the summer of 2012, which means that Lindsey and Sidney were born in January 1991, so they were 12 in 2003, and the iPod was first released in November 2001.

I've only had one econ class in my life, and it was really boring, though I did learn what Lindsey did in a world history class. Also, I don't know much about sword fighting other than the little I've seen and read so don't think I'm an expert.

Now about the end of the chapter. When I first started this story I watched Cinderella and Sword in the Stone back to back. During Cinderella I kept thinking how similar Lucifer looked to the Cheshire Cat. During Sword in the Stone I noticed how similar Mim's coloring was to the Cheshire Cat and I came up with the crazy idea that the Cheshire Cat resulted from a magical mishap between Lucifer and Mim. The Cheshire Cat also shares some magical features with Mim- appearing and disappearing, being mad... He can also travel through time which should make a lot of his earlier encounters make more sense, and yes, he is one of the few who knows what will happen. Neither a villain nor a hero, popping up at different moments in time, it's hard to keep track of which version is running around when, adding to the whole, it's complicated thing the Muses hinted at.

Next chapter will have a bunch of little things with different people, to tie some things together.

Like or dislike Lindsey's plan? What about the Cheshire Cat reveal? Brilliant, mad, different? Let me know in a review!


	12. Staying Alive

I do not own the rights to anything Disney. Next update is May 5th.

**Staying Alive**

Lindsey blinked a couple times trying to make sense of the scene in front of her. The Cheshire Cat was hovering in the air, which given her history, wouldn't be too much of a big deal. What made it weird, wasn't that he had hadn't been there a couple seconds earlier. In his place had been Lucifer and Madam Mim.

"What just happened?" asked Lindsey. She seemed to be the only one in the room confused by the recent events. Ratcliffe looked relieved and wiped his brow before quietly exiting the room, afraid that Mim's affections might have been transferred to the Cheshire Cat along with her purple hair. Ursula and Maleficent seemed bemused by the unconventional situation before them.

"It appears the renewing potion did its job... it renewed the two of them, into the Cheshire Cat," mused Maleficent. "Which does make sense, the Wonderlanders have always denied him being one of them."

The Cheshire Cat had been quietly listening to the conversation regarding him. He had also been testing out his new powers, practicing disappearing and reappearing at will throughout the room. His new favorite discovery was learning how to do it one body part at a time. He continued popping in and out of the room, all while paying close attention to the discussion.

"But that's not possible," said Lindsey shaking her head, "I've seen him before! If he was just, just-"

"Created," supplied Ursula. Then she added, "What do you mean you've seen him before?"

Before Lindsey could answer, Maleficent interjected. "Of course he's visited her before. She's partially responsible for his creation, naturally he's drawn to her. As for how, it should be obvious if you were paying attention in your lessons with Jafar earlier."

Lindsey could feel her face grow red at the accusation Alright, so she hadn't paid attention, but that wasn't anything new. Even Maleficent and Ursula had excused themselves from the lesson, so weren't they being hypocritical?

"Um," mumbled Lindsey as she strained her memory in order to recollect something from the lesson. When that failed, she fell back onto her traditional method of dealing with unexpected questions: guessing. "Magic?"

Considering where she was, it seemed a decent guess. Disney and magic seemed to go hand in hand.

Ursula chuckled until Maleficent shot her a death glare. "How do you expect to defeat the heroes if you can't even pay attention in your lessons? Your plan may prove to be successful, but you still need to know the basics of how this world works. If you had paid attention, you would know that time travel is possible."

Time travel? But wasn't that more science fiction than fantasy? The more Lindsey thought about it, the more she realized she shouldn't be putting too much thought into analyzing time travel in the Disney world. Besides, it actually explained a lot about the cat. How he knew things that hadn't happened yet, and didn't know things that had already happened.

"I can time travel?" piped up the Cheshire Cat, who was still listening intently to the conversation. Deciding to try out his new trick, he then disappeared from sight, before reappearing mere seconds later. "That was fun, I think I shall try it again. Goodbye Not-Lost Girl."

After a couple seconds passed without him returning, it was clear that he was gone for the time being. Lindsey wondered where, or when, he had went. Probably off somewhere bothering her, knowing him.

"So who gets to tell the social-climber her beloved cat from hell just combined with Mad Mim to form an even crazier creature?" laughed Ursula, amused at the thought.

Judging by the looks that the two were giving her, Lindsey had a good idea who that responsibility was going to fall to. She liked Anastasia perfectly fine, but her mother? That was another story. Cinderella was a movie she was familiar with, and the step-mother had always scared her as a kid, despite not having any magic like Maleficent or Ursula. Lady Tremaine was more realistic, a person that one could encounter in real life. She actually reminded Lindsey of a great-aunt who usually favored Sidney over Lindsey, treating Lindsey a lot like Cinderella. Given the little Anastasia had talked about her mother, she was just as bad as here as she was in the movie.

Surely, she wasn't capable of murder? Physiological and verbal abuse for sure, but murder? And surely if she was, wouldn't the other villains stop her? Hades had said that if she died here, it would be for good, and that wouldn't help the villains at all...

"Ah-hem," said a voice from the door. Lindsey turned around and saw that it was Frollo. Oh yeah, he was supposed to teach her history and geography. With the whole Cheshire Cat fiasco, that fact had slipped from her mind. Now that she remembered, she remembered something else as well- Frollo was now married to Lady Tremaine, which actually made her Lady Frollo. Thinking of her like that, made Lindsey's head hurt, she'd stick to Lady Tremaine for the time being.

Putting on her best smile, she sidled up to Frollo with an idea in mind. Rocking back and forth on her heels, she said, "So, want to hear a funny story?"

* * *

Gaston took a gulp from his mug before loudly slamming it down on the wood table, startling the other patrons at LeFou's tavern.

"What's the matter, Gaston?" asked LeFou, pulling up a chair next to him.

Sighing, Gaston used his right arm to wipe the froth off of his mouth. "LeFou," he bellowed, "I've been thinking."

Internally, LeFou groaned. Gatson thinking never boded well, he was much better at following the ideas of others rather than coming up with his own. His last great idea had resulted in Gaston's own death, and LeFou being labeled as a villain. While Hades brought Gaston back, and LeFou ended up with Anastasia, he didn't want to live through the consequences of another one of Gaston's great ideas.

He didn't say out loud though. Gaston was one of his best friends, and didn't handle criticism easily. He either ignored it, or punched whoever dared to speak it to his face.

"Gaston, thinking is never good," replied LeFou, adding, 'at least for you' in his mind.

"I know," grumbled Gaston, unaware of what his friend was really thinking. "It's just Ursula keeps going on about this girl being the one, and having to listen to her, but her plan sounds so... stupid." He brought down his fist on the table to emphasize his point.

LeFou groaned internally again, hoping that Gaston could go at least one visit without damaging the furniture. Skilled carpenters were rare finds, and they usually charged exorbitant fees for even the smallest jobs. Some might wonder what LeFou was still doing with somebody like Gaston who caused so much chaos and havoc in LeFou's life. LeFou's own wife even had a hard time understanding the friendship, often citing Gaston as a bad influence on the children.

Their friendship could be traced back to their childhood, back to a time when LeFou had actually been bigger than Gaston. Gaston had been very small as a child, and rather frail looking- something his father wasn't too proud of. Although Gaston never said anything at school, LeFou was smart enough to know that there were more to the bruises and marks on Gaston than simply falling down or running into doors as he claimed. LeFou befriended the small boy, often bringing him home to get a decent meal. Gaston's mother had died when he was very young, leaving his father in charge of cooking which he seemed to be very poor at.

Whenever Gaston would come over, he would eat as much as possible, taking whatever leftovers remained home with him. This seemed to work, for Gaston eventually began to gain weight, remedying his sickly appearance. He continued to gain weight, which then turned into muscle. LeFou was happy to note that the stronger Gaston became, the amount of the bruises and their frequency lessened. Having a son who finally met his high standards, Gaston's father started to teach him 'manly' activities such as wrestling and hunting. Gaston would give his kills to LeFou's mother to cook into a huge feast for them all.

When it became apparent that LeFou had reached his maximum height, other children in the village took to making fun of him. Gaston was the one who defended LeFou from his bullies, similar to how LeFou had helped him when the situation had been reversed. As the two grew older, they continued to watch each other's backs.

Sure, the more Gaston grew in size, his ego grew to match it and he started to belittle LeFou, and stopped treating him like an equal and more like a sidekick. LeFou put up with it though, knowing that he was really Gaston's only true friend, and that Gaston needed somebody to look after him. LeFou hadn't done such a good job in recent years, but he still tried and stuck with Gaston through thick and thin. Although Gaston would never admit it, LeFou knew he was touched when Gaston was asked to be the godfather to LeFou's children.

Gaston's fist was enough of a reason to gather the attention of those around him- most of which were Hook's pirates, enjoying being in port and spending their wages on alcohol, hot meals, and some of the town's loveliest ladies.

With the center of attention on him at last, Gaston cleared his throat so his deep voice would be loud enough to fill the entire room. "Her plan is stupid. Sure Hook's ship is fast, but is it fast enough? How long will it take to defeat the heroes? Months? Years?"

Others in the room agreed, cheering Gaston on and letting out numerous, 'Here here's' and 'Aye's'. Satisfied, Gaston continued. "I don't know about you, but I don't think I can wait that long for victory. What if the heroes attack before then? We'll be off carrying goods, leaving everybody here defenseless."

More cheers filled the room, one even coming from LeFou. As much as Gaston's thinking got them into trouble in the past, he did have a point. How long was the plan going to take? LeFou had his children to think of, and Anastasia. Would Maleficient, Ursula, and the other magic users in the castle be enough to keep the heroes at bay? LeFou wasn't willing to risk his family's safety on the mere plan of a girl who was younger than wife and wasn't familiar with this world.

"What do you have in mind?" called one pirate from the back.

"Yeah," yelled another, and others quickly joined in.

Ever one for dramatic performances, Gaston stood up and posed grandly- one foot on his chair, another on the table, and his hands on his waist. LeFou tried not to wince at the creaking the chair and table were doing, they weren't that well made to begin with, let alone sturdy enough to put up with the abuse Gaston was forcing them to go through.

"If she has a plan, I suggest we come up with one of our own. One that will be more beneficial to us than hers. After all, she's just a little lady, what does she know about the art of war?"

More choruses of agreement rang out in the room, and a feeling of doom began to fill LeFou.

If Gaston's plan didn't kill LeFou, Anastasia and the girl would.

* * *

"The girl did WHAT to my LUCIFER?!"

Frollo was not one to cower. Instead he was slinking into a corner of the room in order to get away from his wife's rage. He should have known a cat named after the devil would not be good news, but at the time marrying Lady Tremaine seemed like such a good idea. He admired the way she ordered others about, the fear she could instill in them with just one look, the deviousness of her mind. She may not have had the gypsy's looks, but she did have a mind that rivaled his own.

Furthermore she understood propriety, and was an upstanding citizen whose only crime was trying to teach a girl the morals of hard work and to curb her seductress ways. Frollo could relate, he had been just as dedicated to his raising of the young Quasimodo, and both of their charges turned on their guardians, causing society to cast them out as the 'villains'.

Oh why had he let that girl charm him and talk him into being the one who broke the news? Looking back, the smiles on Ursula's and Maleficent's faces should have tipped him off that the girl's talk of not being brave enough to face his wife, and how it would only be natural for her husband to break such delicate news, wasn't sincere. It was nothing but a bunch of pretty words meant to ensnare him and manipulate him like that gypsy's dancing had once done. If it wasn't for the girl's role, he would have vowed vengeance. Perhaps a good speech on the sinfulness of lying and falsehoods during their first lesson would do her good. The story she had told, wasn't the funniest in the least.

If he managed to live that is.

****Author's Note****

I'd like to thank Deathstroke Terminator, DoubleTrouble28513, Daydreamer747, nightmaster000, Galimatias, The Invisible Enchantress, and Guest for reviews. I love getting reviews, and the more the merrier. Since I can't respond with a PM to Daydreamer747 and Guest, their responses are below.

Daydreamer747: Thanks! I've been waiting to reveal the Cheshire Cat aspect for a while, and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Guest: I love the Cheshire Cat and am glad I managed to work into the story as much as I have. Shan Yu doesn't strike me as the patient type, and I would hate to see what lessons would be like with him. Sorry, butasper will not be featured in this story- 101 Dalmatians is too modern due to the cars and other modern day technology. Since the story takes place in an alternate dimension, I'm trying to keep the time period to the 1700's at the latest, so no cars and no Jasper.

I'm glad that everybody liked the Cheshire Cat reveal, and hopefully the explanation of time travel makes sense. Being able to time travel with magic was seen in the Sword in the Stone with Merlin, and with the Genie in Aladdin.

This chapter was originally going to be a bunch of little scenes, similar to what you see at the end. Then I realized I needed to spend more time with explaining the Cheshire Cat and Gaston's backstory came out. Gaston isn't really a villain, he's just a bit full of himself. I always got the impression that there was more of a male presence in Gaston's life than a female, which most likely favored brawn over brains, causing him to turn out like he did. The only affection and approval he ever got from his father but probably craved was due to his strength and manliness- leaving little value for things like being smart, and strength of character. I also wondered why LeFou stuck with Gaston so much, even after being confined to a snow pile outside of Belle's house for what appears to be a long time.

So next chapter, little scenes featuring at least Lindsey, Hook, Pocahontas (I haven't forgotten about her), Anastasia and LeFou. Depending on those scenes, there could be more.

I loved writing Frollo. He's the type to never admit that he's whipped, and blames all his misfortunes on others. He looked after Quasimodo for all those years, how dare that boy rise up against him! How dare that gypsy use her wiles on him an then reject him! Like I said, a fun character.

Thanks for reading, and if possible, please leave a review.


	13. Time to Grow Up

I do not own the rights to anything Disney. Next update is May 19th. Please read the Author's Note for an idea about a new, but completely separate, Disney fic.

**Time to Grow Up**

The days at Maleficent's castle quickly blurred into one another. Get up early. Spend the morning getting her butt kicked by Hook. Have lunch. Spend the afternoon being bored to death by Jafar and Frollo with Ursula and Maleficent teaching her in between. Have dinner and go to bed. Repeat.

Living in a castle full of villains and that looked as if it belonged in a horror movie could be unnerving at times, especially when Lindsey was left to wander the dark hallways by herself, only to round the corner and bump into one of Maleficent's minions or one of the villains. Lindsey supposed she was adjusting rather well for the most part. She wouldn't call the villains friends per say, they only seemed to tolerate her because of the whole prophecy thing, and Hook was the only one who called her by name occasionally. They were more like acquaintances, co-workers- people you knew and were nice to, but weren't that close to.

The only downside was the lack of sleep. Her trick of drinking something before bed to lull her into dreamland was no longer working. When she did fall asleep, her dreams were unpleasant and were haunted by the same creepy voice each night, repeating the same word over and over again: _mine, mine, mine._ By the time she fell into a deep sleep without the creepy voice, it was time to get up. Frollo and Jafar didn't even have the decency to allow her to sleep during their lessons. Ever since the first day, Jafar would use his staff to shoot a blast of magic at her whenever he caught her sleeping. It didn't injure her, but it did sting and she knew that Ursula and Maleficent were somehow responsible for that idea. As for Frollo, he might not have magic, but he had found an old walking cane that he took pleasure in whenever he rapped it loudly on the table Lindsey was sitting at, causing her to jump out of her chair in fright. Due to his enjoyment of watching her suffer through his dull lectures and the sermons about propriety and how young women should behave, Lindsey suspect he had it out for her. It seemed like the only reason he gave them was to bore Lindsey to death, causing her to fall asleep, just so he could slam down that stupid cane of his as loudly as possible.

When she brought up the topic to Maleficent and Ursula, they had merely given her their cold smiles and walked away, which was just as good as a 'yes' in Lindsey's mind. She had no idea what she did to Frollo, but he clearly had some sort of issues with women that needed to be resolved. Issues that she would let somebody else deal with, she had enough issues of her own to work through.

* * *

Pocahontas's favorite part of the ship was the crow's nest. The name confused her since it wasn't an actual nest for crows, but she had quickly learned that the English had many words and phrases that meant different things from how they sounded. She would spend most of the day up there, using the 'telescope' to keep an eye out for anything that wasn't water. The English crew members had taught her what to search for- other ships, land, even clouds that could potentially lead to a bad storm.

At first she wasn't so fond of the giant ship. Traveling on the ocean was very different than rowing in her canoe. Not only was the trip longer, but the ship would bob up and down, not flowing smoothly like a river. Rivers also had twists and turns, and things to look at. The ocean was just so _flat_ and big, going forever in every direction. When what the sailors called 'sea sickness' had worn off, she had spent several days ailing from a different illness- being homesick. She missed the trees, the land, the animals, and was wondering if the water would ever end. While she knew that John Smith and his men had to have come from somewhere, it seemed too impossible to believe at times when the only thing in sight was water.

She wasn't alone though, which she was grateful for. Many of the English settlers, including Thomas, had chosen to stay behind, allowing many of the Powhatan warriors to take their place on the voyage to England. Her father had spent some time thinking over her request before coming to a decision. He spoke to the tribe that night, explaining the situation. None of his people would be forced to fight with the English against the great darkness that was coming, only those who wanted to. The Powhatans who chose to go were mostly young, those who didn't have families of their own yet, and were looking forward to proving themselves in a battle. Pocahontas knew that not all the men who chose to go would return, but it seemed as if that thought hadn't occurred to most of them, preferring to think they were invincible.

As for herself, her father was hesitant to let her go. He did in the end, saying that she would find a way to pursue the path she wanted no matter what he said, so she might as well go with his blessing. Grandmother Willow, Nakoma, and Thomas wished her the best as well, with Thomas saying she was better than any of 'those princesses' back home, and she should stay true to her heritage. Pocahontas knew very little about 'those princesses', but appreciated the sentiment.

While nobody had officially said it, she knew that the Powhatans on the ship considered her their leader, and as such she would be expected to act as one upon arriving in England. That would mean no more running about doing what she wished. Instead she would have to be her father, putting her people's needs first and acting like a dignified leader, showing the English that she and the Powhatans weren't savages. That would also mean meeting the leaders of England and the other many lands that the settlers had told her about, maybe even some of 'those princesses'.

Perhaps that was why she enjoyed being up in the crow's nest- enjoying the last little bit of freedom to be herself that she would have for a while. Nobody could bother her there, nobody could judge her. Some days Meeko, the only one of her animal friends who wanted to come, would join her if she brought along some of the biscuits he was fond of. He was willing to do anything if there was food involved.

According to the captain of the ship, they were only a few days away from land. Curious as to how he could know that when the telescope continued to only show water in the distance, the captain had explained that by keeping track of the stars and the sun each day, he could figure out their location. Pocahontas was surprised to learn that these strange men from a land so far away, could appreciate the importance of such things, just like the Powhatans. It was further proof that although they may come from different places, that both cultures had something in common that could surpass the gap in between them.

That proof gave Pocahontas hope that the great darkness could be defeated after all, as long as they all worked together. That afterwards, her people and the settlers could live together in peace, and maybe 'those princesses' wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

"Why do you have to leave?"

Hook had allowed Lindsey a rare break, taking the opportunity to explain that this would be their last lesson for a while. Lindsey was amazed to discover that she would actually miss him once she heard the news. He may have made her sweat more than any P.E. teacher ever had, and was constantly berating her, but he did have his moments.

Upon discovering that she really didn't remember anything of her adventures when she was younger, he had taken to telling her his own memories of her exploits. He would tell her the stories during the ten minute breaks they took- apparently he thought bribery in addition to threats were the proper way of motivating Lindsey to learn.

Apparently, Lindsey had first met Hook one day when she showed up on his ship one day declaring that princesses were stupid and she wanted to be a pirate. By that point Hook was well aware of the girls presence and had expected an encounter sooner or later. Knowing that a four year-old girl was the last thing his crew would want, even if she was one of the girls from the prophecy, Hook had explained all the duties being a pirate entailed- swabbing the deck, hoisting the sails, eating gruel, living with a bunch of dirty, horrible men. A look of disgust had appeared on her face as she realized that the pirate's life wasn't the life for her. Peter had then arrived and kept trying to encourage her to join him and the Lost Boys by being their new 'Wendy'. She had quickly shot them down, to Hook's delight, declaring that she wasn't Wendy nor a Lost Girl, and she didn't need them, preferring to go off on her adventures.

Other stories involved her sometimes teaming up with Peter and the Lost Boys to fight Hook, fighting Hook on her own, and trying to sneak off with his treasure. None of the stories rang any bells or stirred any forgotten memories, but they were fun to listen to and sounded like things Lindsey would do. Hook was the only one so far who tried to get Lindsey to remember, and told her of her past exploits. Something she didn't realize she wanted, until he told her that he was leaving, which meant the stories would be leaving as well.

Lindsey didn't know which she would miss more.

"Lindsey, you're the one who came up with the plan involving my ship. Now that the puppeteer has been set up, and Shan Yu has made the appropriate connections in Asia, we can start." Hook let out a dramatic sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose in exasperation as if he had explained this a thousand times before. In reality, it was only the second attempt.

"Can't you stay here?" asked Lindsey.

"What, and leave those idiots in charge of _my_ ship? Do you have any idea of the damage they could do if I'm not around?"

Lindsey had suspected that was the case, but thought she might as well ask anyway. Then another thought occurred to her.

"Could I come with you? I'd even be willing to swab the deck and all that other stuff you said I'd have to do as a pirate."

Hook raised an eyebrow at the suggestion, and let out a small chuckle before his face turned serious. "Even if Hades and the others wouldn't kill me for absconding you, you need to be here. Why are you so obsessed with me leaving anyway Lindsey? I would have thought you'd be jumping for joy at the news of my departure. As long as you continue practicing every day, you don't need me anymore."

"It's just... the others listen and tolerate me, but you're the only one who's bothered to remember my name," she responded, biting her lower lip in embarrassment.

Lindsey realized that sounded silly and childish, but it was the truth.

"Silly girl, I remember your name because you're important to my goals. You're attachment to me will only hurt you in the end- have you forgotten where you are? Here, the villain never gets the girl," he said, chiding her.

She figured as much; Hook had never struck her as the sentimental sort. Dramatic and stern yes, sometimes friendly, but never sentimental.

"The break's over, now back to work."

* * *

Hades drummed his fingers on his desk. It had been over a week since his visit to the Fates and still nothing. Zip. Nada. Zilch.

After he returned to his home in the Underworld he drew up a list of all those who could know something about the outcome of the war. The Fates had said that not all were heroes, so that obviously some were villains, which he could work with. It was rather easy to intimidate into coughing up information you needed when you were the god of the dead, and had brought back the majority of the villains to life.

Despite deciding to concentrate on the villains, the list was still much longer than Hades liked. So he knocked off all the non-magic users, which was really the only logical way they could have gained their knowledge of the future in the first place. Hearing that Mim had been turned into the Cheshire Cat, allowed him to cross off another name on the ever dwindling list. He hadn't ever actually seriously considered her a suspect due to her blabbermouth nature, but having confirmation was nice.

That just left the one wicked stepmother who could do magic and whose name he didn't bother to remember, Ursula, Jafar, and Maleficent. Of those four, he was pretty confident that Ursula and the stepmother were unlikely. Ursula was as much of a gossip as Mim, and the stepmother's magic revolved more around potion making than casting spells or attempting to see into the future. Just to be sure though, he sent Pain and Panic to spy on Ursula and the stepmother while he attempted to question Jafar and Mal.

Neither mission was very successful. The only information that Pain and Panic returned with was that Ursula had an elaborate system of spells and potions to keep her young and had an healthy obsession with Gaston, Gaston was planning something stupid, and the stepmother had sent her crow after the two. Information that he already knew or could care less about.

As for his own mission, Mal was quicker to suspect something than Jafar. Now he had nothing, and both were suspicious of what he knew and which side he was truly loyal to. Just his luck the two villains who most likely knew something were also the ones who could stand their own against him.

Perhaps it was time to let the villains cool off and start figuring out which of the heroes knew.

* * *

Hook had finished early, so Lindsey still had some time to kill before her afternoon lessons. She planned on spending the extra hour napping once she finished lunch. When she opened the door to her room however, she found somebody already on her bed.

It was a blonde girl, one who looked very familiar. The blonde jumped to her feet once she saw Lindsey entering the room and offered a shy, "Hi."

"Hi," replied Lindsey, still trying to figure out how she knew the girl. She wasn't a villain, Lindsey was pretty sure there were no blonde villains, at least major ones. Eventually she decided it'd be better to just come out and ask the girl who she was. "Who are you?"

The girl blushed a bit, embarrassed that Lindsey didn't remember her. "I'm Ella, we met at the Rose Ball... my sister is Sleeping Beauty?" The last bit was phrased like a question, unsure whether or not Lindsey knew her sister was.

The mention of the Rose Ball was enough to jog Lindsey's memory. She had met only one blonde named Ella that night, and it hadn't been the one with her own movie. "Right, Ella, short for Astrella. If you're Sleeping Beauty's sisters, then what are you doing here? The home of the person who cursed your sister?"

"I'm not that worried about Maleficent, after my sister's christening, they didn't invite any guests to mine. Besides, I've snuck over here before and nothing's happened," Ella said excitedly, happy that Lindsey now knew who she was. "Except this time I ran away!"

"I"m sorry, what?" asked Lindsey, still unsure what this teenage princess was doing in her room. Her eyes went from the blonde, to the trunk in the corner of the room that had definitely not been there early that morning.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to grow up with an older sister who's been cursed? My parents have treated me like china my entire life, never letting me have any fun. Meeting you was the most fun I had that night. Ever since you left, there's been nothing but talk of the war, and there was a lot of talk before then. I'm so sick of not being allowed to do anything, so I decided to run away and help you!"

Ella had been bouncing up and down so much during her little spiel, that Lindsey was reminded of a puppy who was eager to please. Which was the problem. Somehow this girl had managed to convince herself that living among the villains was better than living among the heroes, and Lindsey was not only her way in, but somebody to look up to.

_Oh god, _ thought Lindsey, _I have a fangirl._

Which posed a serious problem. Lindsey couldn't imagine Ella lasting all that long around here, even if she had been here before as she claimed. If a villain so much as spotted the perky blonde princess, the girl was dead. but how to get her to go home on her own?

"If you want to help," Lindsey began slowly, "You could go home... and be a spy."

Lindsey had no idea where the spy thing came from, but it seemed to please Ella who started to nod her head enthusiastically. "I can do that! I'll be pretending to be one of them, but secretly observing their plans and reporting to you."

"Yeah, you do that," replied Lindsey who wasn't as sure as Ella about this plan, but it was too late to talk her out of it. "Now if you don't mind, I was planning on taking a nap."

* * *

LeFou paced the floor of the tavern. It was still early in the day,

Several days had passed since Gaston's declaration that something needed to be done, and he had hoped that it merely had been the alcohol talking. Gaston simply shouldn't be allowed to think and drink. During those several days, Gaston hadn't been around much, and when he was, Ursula was draped on his arm.

That changed an hour ago when he had waltzed into the tavern. LeFou kew something was up, Gaston didn't get up early in the morning unless he had to. He was right- Gaston was leaving with the other crew members of the Jolly Roger that night and had asked LeFou to join him.

"What's wrong?" asked Anastasia who was on the second floor balcony which led to their living quarters and overlooked the main floor below. The children were practicing their letters in the other room. She had just managed to get them settled down for the day when she noticed movement from the corner of her eye. Going out onto the balcony allowed her to see the shadow of her husband flickering back and forth on the far wall as he paced.

LeFou looked up at his wife. He couldn't lie to her, she'd know instantly. Nor did he want to. Sensing that something was off, Anastasia made her way down the stairs and onto the main floor.

"Does this have anything to do with Gaston's plan?" she asked, her voice anxious for the truth.

LeFou sighed and looked away, unable to meet her eyes. "Hook is leaving. Gaston and the crew plan on changing course to launch a surprise attack directly on the heroes and royals. If Hook doesn't go along with they plan on mutinying. He asked me to come along.'

Anastasia pulled his chin, forcing him to look up at her. "Don't you dare, LeFou. You know as well as I do, the heroes aren't defenseless and would be prepared for an attack- they'll get slaughtered."

"I promised him I would," he admitted sheepishly. "He's my best friend, what was I supposed to say?"

"You're supposed to say no," cried Anastasia, who was trying to keep her voice down as to not alert the children that their parents were having an argument. "It's not like the old days when you can run off with him at a moment's notice for some harebrained scheme. You have a family, children, LeFou. Children shouldn't have to grow up without a father."

Her voice croaked on the last words, and tears were silently running down her cheek. He knew she didn't remember her real father. The father she had known, had been for a very brief time, but enough to leave an impact on her of what a father should be. She would say while most people knew Cinderella as the girl who lost her father and had a stepmother, they forgot about the two girls with a mother who had lost a father and a stepfather. Anastasia might not have been his biological daughter, but the man had treated her like one, and there had always been a hole in her heart. One that Frollo could never fill, not that he ever tried.

As for LeFou, his father hadn't been around much. A soldier who was always away, fighting a foreign war somewhere according to his mother. LeFou learned the truth that his father was little more than a drunk crook when he was thirteen, though his mother never found that out. It was probably one of the reasons he liked being around Gaston so much.

His wife was right though. Children shouldn't have to grow up without a father. Or a mother. Or being treated like villains.

He only had one option, but it would mean betraying his best friend, his mentor, the godfather to his children. But hadn't Gaston betrayed him already? By forcing him to choose between his family and his friend?

"You're right," he replied softly, wiping her tears away with his handkerchief. "It's time to grow up. Let's go tell Maleficent... maybe she'll be able to stop him in time."

* * *

Feeling rather triumph from her handling of Ella and refreshed from her catnap, Lindsey managed to not fall asleep during Jafar's lesson. She did zone out occasionally but she didn't fall asleep which was a small victory.

That was until she had class with Ursula and Maleficent. A loud snore had alerted the two their pupil had dozed off. Lindsey awoke with a start when she was grabbed by the hair by an angry Maleficent.

"Is my castle unconducive to your sleep cycle?"

"N-o-o-o," stuttered Lindsey, not knowing what Maleficent was going to do to her. Normally, her nap from Jafar's class was enough to tide her over to Frollo's so she never had to face an angry Maleficent before.

Maleficent let go of her hair with such force that Lindsey nearly tipped over in her chair. "If not, then why do you continue to insist upon sleeping through your lessons that are meant to keep you alive? Does this have anything to do with your fondness of my wine?"

"Nightmares," replied Lindsey, who was astonished that she was giving an honest reply for the second time that day. If it had been anybody else, she would have made a joke, but Maleficent probably didn't have the sense of humor that her roommate and family members did.

"Is that all, nightmares?" The way she said 'nightmares' made Lindsey feel like a three year-old who complained to their parents that there was a monster under their bed.

"If nightmares plague your dreams, a sleeping potion- modified of course- would do you better than alcohol. I'll see to it that one be sent to your room each night. You're not overly dependent on the liquid, are you? The last thing we need is for the heroes to find out you have a weakness."

"No," said Lindsey. At least she didn't think she did. She could be sober if she wanted to be, right? And with Maleficent's sleeping potions, she wouldn't have to worry about falling asleep at night. Just the waking up bit, but Maleficent did say modified, so hopefully that meant no true love's kiss being involved.

"Good," responded Maleficent. "Nice job handling the princess earlier," she added with a smirk.

Lindsey's eyes shot wide open, how did she know about Ella?

Anticipating Lindsey's question, Maleficent shot off a response. "You honestly expected me to not know about her visits to the village and my castle? I've known her about for a while. I allow it because her parents have tried their best to keep her safe from me, not realizing I don't have to lift a finger to corrupt her. The girl does that on her own."

That, made sense. Lindsey had long suspected that Maleficent was cunning and manipulative, but that... that was so devious. It made Lindsey wonder just how much of a hand in some of Lindsey's decisions, perhaps a far greater influence than she realized.

"Mal, if you're done," said Ursula, "I'd like to get this lesson over so I can get back to my Gastonny and send him off with a nice long goodbye."

For one brief second, Maleficent and Lindsey shared the same expression of horror and disgust at being told what they deemed to be too much information.

"I'm afraid you'll have to wait," said Jafar as he suddenly entered the room.

Iago, who was perched on his shoulder, added, "Yeah, the schmuck just took off with the rest of the crew on Hook's ship."

"So? I fail to see what the problem is," replied Maleficent who was unfazed, unlike Ursula who looked furious and ready to kill.

"Oh did I forget to mention they left without Hook? Knocked him out cold and left him in one of the towers after they mutinied and decided to attack the heroes."

****Author's Note** **

I'd like to thank civilwarrose, The Invisible Enchantress, and nightmaster000 for reviews. In case I haven't said it enough, I really love reviews.

So... yeah. Pocahontas will show up later, Hades is still trying to figure out who knows stuff and Frollo hates Lindsey... I wonder why. I wanted to bring Astrella in earlier, but had too many other things to deal with first. She should play a bigger role as the story goes on- I've always wanted to do a princess who hated being a princess and preferred being with the villains. Lindsey has issues to work through, but she will regain her past memories eventually. Anastasia and LeFou are interesting to write since they're one of the few normal couples in this story, that also have pasts they're still dealing with. I also can't ever remember somebody bringing up Anastasia's relationship with her stepfather (Cinderella's) father and if/how she was affected by his death.

Then there's the ending of this chapter. Will there be a battle next chapter? Depending on the length, if not the next chapter, then the one after. Also, be prepared for death's. This is a war, so people will die. I won't be J.K. Rowling killing off characters right and left, just be aware not all will make it to the end alive, and Hades doesn't bring people back out of the goodness of his heart.

Now for the other Disney fic idea- I'm trying to figure out if there would be enough interest to warrant writing it. In order to help me write this story, I did a lot of research. I went to the Disney wiki, tvtropes, and other sites to read about the history of different Disney movies and characters. During that process I kept coming up with ideas of how to improve certain Disney movies that weren't as critically acclaimed or financially successful as Disney and audiences hoped.

I don't have the time to develop all of those ideas into their own separate fics, so my idea is to do a story that deals with one of those movies pointing out the little things that could have made it better, and also outling some ideas that would have completely changed the plot, but could have ultimately made the movies better. Movies that would be included would be Hercules, The Black Cauldron, Pocahontas, Cars 2, Atlantis, Treasure Planet, Meet the Robinsons, and some others. Readers would be welcomed to leave their thoughts either in a review or PM, along with suggestions of their own.

If you'd be interested in such a story, let me know in a review or PM. It'd be different than the usual fic, which is why I'm trying to figure out if there is anybody interested. If there is, I hope to have the first chapter out before the next update of this chapter. If not, I won't mention it again.

Thanks for reading, and if possible, leave a review.


	14. Everything Changes

I do not own the rights to Disney. Next update should be June 2nd.

**Everything Changes**

Lindsey had never been in a war before. Not really. All of her so-called experiences with war came from playing video games, watching movies, and certain exploits from her childhood. A few minutes into her first war made her realize that video games and movies didn't count. Neither did all those 'wars' and 'battles' she had as a child. Those were very different from actual wars. The stakes were lower- maybe some mild embarrassment, a scraped knee or a bruise- but nobody ever died. Those silly games paled in comparison to what was going on around her.

She didn't even know how much time had passed since she had left Maleficent's castle. One second she had been in the classroom, the next she was running after Jafar, Ursula, and Maleficent, trying to keep up with their long strides. They found Hook tied up and gagged as Jafar had said- with Smee by his side- locked into one of the highest towers, close to where Hook's ship had been anchored.

Just as Hook was regaining consciousness, Anastasia and LeFou showed up with information regarding Gaston's plan, which Hook confirmed. Gaston had managed to convince his crew to mutiny, but Hook had refused on the grounds it was ridiculous and likely to fail. While Gaston might certainly have the element of surprise on his side, due to Lindsey's arrival, the heroes and royals had become even more vigilant and prepared for an attack. That was the appeal of Lindsey's plan to those who were more likely to use their heads than their fists in battle- attack the heroes in a manner that they would never expect and could not defend against.

Men, and some women who were willing to fight, were summoned from the village along with the rest of the high profile villains to come to Gaston's aid- more to save Hook's ship than Gaston, since the ship would be near impossible to replace- fairy dust freely given was rare, and nobody was even sure what the actual process had been to grant Hook's ship the ability to fly or if it could be duplicated.

Somebody had seen to it that Lindsey was properly equipped with armor and a sword before she left the castle. Maleficent had left first, transforming herself into a dragon. Hades had taken Hook and Smee directly to Hook's ship in order to deal with Gaston, while Jafar and Ursula had worked out a spell to teleport several of the villains and Lindsey closer to where Hook's ship was thought to be. Traveling by magic still made Lindsey queasy, but it was preferable to the alternative methods of traveling by horse, which she didn't have much experience with, or walking, which she wasn't as fond of.

The spot they had arrived at was just past the mountains that surrounded the castle, and the forest that acted as a natural barrier between Maleficent's land and the villains, and Sleeping Beauty' castle and the lands of the other royals. It was here that the royal scouts had spotted the huge ship in the sky, approaching ever closer from the distance. They quickly sounded the alarm. Within minutes, the Lost Boys, Tinker Bell and the fairies, Hercules with Pegasus, and Aladdin with Carpet and Genie had responded. Expecting a ground assault as well, the other heroes who were close by, along with soldiers, surged forward, determined to cut off the villains before they made it too far into the forest.

Seeing the soldiers and heroes emerging out from behind the trees and shrubbery was when Lindsey realized just how unprepared she was. Nobody had told her what to do, or at least she couldn't remember anybody giving her any instructions of what to actually do. Hook may have taught her how to block and thrust along with other movements, but that didn't mean she was ready to defend herself in an actual fight where there was no room for error. The limited magical knowledge she had was restricted to potions and the little theory she had picked up from Jafar.

She wasn't only unprepared physically, but mentally as well. Lindsey may not have been as a Disney fan as her sister, but there was still something about seeing characters she did know and somewhat cared about charging at her. Sidney was leading the assault with Mulan and Shang, followed by some of the princes, and even some of the princesses not content to stay safely behind and out of harm's way.

Above, a battle of magic was raging. Maleficent seemed to be flying circles around the fairies and Genie, despite her size, possibly due to some sort of shield. In front of Lindsey, another battle of magic was taking place, this one between Jafar, Ursula, Snow White's stepmother and Merlin and the Fairy Godmother.

Taking advantage of the fact that nobody seemed to be paying her much attention, Lindsey found a hole under a nearby tree to hide in. She wasn't being a coward she told herself, she was surviving. Fight or flight had kicked in, and she had realized she would be toast if she had decided to stick around and fight. The only way she'd live was if she kept out of the battle.

Lindsey tried not to think of all the villagers who didn't have a choice, and wouldn't stand much of a chance against the heroes and their soldiers. One side had training, weapons, armor, and experience. The other had only the clothes on their back, the few weapons they had managed to scrape together, and the knowledge that they were fighting to defend their families. While they did have some powerful villains on their side, all of the villains had been defeated by their heroes, and what was to stop history from repeating?

From her hiding spot she could hear the clanging of swords and screaming. She closed her eyes and tried to block out what was happening outside, and what could be happening inside- mainly the presence of bugs and other creatures that made their homes in the hole where she was currently hiding. She usually did okay with creepy crawlies, but feeling one crawling on her would be enough to send her running from her hiding spot into the thick of battle- the last thing she wanted to do.

She may have not been fighting, but her heart was still racing fast enough for her to hear it pounding in her head. Therefore she was quite amazed to distinguish a familiar voice from the den of battle outside and over the sound of own her beating heart.

"No, please..."

Lindsey knew that voice, it was Sidney's. By the sound of the screams that followed, she was in trouble.

Venturing a peek outside, Lindsey raised her head out of the hole. There, with his back turned to her, was Gaston who had somehow made it off of Hook's ship and onto ground. His dark hair had broken loose of the ponytail which usually contained it, and his clothes were ripped in several places, showing off various cuts and bruises across his body. One of his boots was on a figure who looked worse than Gaston did.

Sidney's body was pinned to the ground by Gaston's right leg, and her right arm appeared to be positioned awkwardly beside her. Hoping it was the angle she was looking from, Lindsey slowly emerged from her hiding spot. From her new view point, she could see that Sidney's arm was twisted in such a way that it could only be broken.

Gaston had a bow with an arrow pointed directly at Sidney's throat. "Any last words?" he laughed, enjoying the moment.

Sidney only grimaced, unable to draw a lot of air due to Gaston's weight compressing her chest cavity. Lindsey looked around for help, but everybody else seemed to be consumed with their own enemies. She was the only one who could save Sidney. To her horror, she discovered that there was no sword by her side, just an empty scabbard.

Having only seconds, a glint of metal caught her eye to the right. Gaston was so caught up in Sidney's impending death at his hands, that he didn't notice Lindsey moving out from behind him, reaching for the sword that laid just a few feet away from Sidney's right side.

As soon as Lindsey gripped the hilt of the sword which had captured her attention, several things happened. A loud voice filled her head with triumphant cries of '_Mine!_' The world around her seemed to explode in a bright white light, and she suddenly remembered everything she had once tried so hard to forget.

* * *

_The princesses were boring. They kept insisting upon dressing Lindsey and Sidney up in matching dresses, squealing over just how adorable they were. Sidney ate up the attention, but Lindsey was quickly starting to lose her patience with the princesses and close to throwing a tantrum. Before she could do so, Sidney, who must have sensed her sister's displeasure, said it was time for them to go home._

* * *

_The next time they crossed the bridge, Lindsey had begged to go somewhere more exciting, somewhere like Neverland. Sidney was happy to agree because it meant she could see where the fairies lived, and visit with the mermaids. Lindsey meanwhile paid a visit to a certain pirate captain to see if she could become a pirate, only to decline once he detailed what being a pirate meant._

* * *

_It was soon after that they started going their separate ways. Sidney started spending more and more time with the princesses and other heroes, while Lindsey started spending more and more time at Neverland. She found Peter Pan annoying at first, he was always calling her 'Wendy' or 'Lost Girl'. Why couldn't he just understand that she was neither, that she was just Lindsey? Her name wasn't Wendy, she wasn't lost, and he was just so bossy._

_Once he started calling her Lindsey and stopped trying to tell her what to do, she got along better with him. One of her favorite things to do with Peter was to team up with him against Captain Hook- whom she still had a grudge against for not letting her be a pirate- and loved tricking him, or making him look like a fool._

_Peter had currently challenged to Lindsey to taking what Hook valued most. Peter was off trying to find Hook's treasure, while Lindsey had a different idea about what to take- Hook's hook. Peter had unknowingly served as a distraction, most of the pirates were off the ship hoping to stop him from reaching the treasure. That left the ship unguarded, and Lindsey free to sneak aboard. While there was a strong chance that Hook was still aboard since she hadn't seen him leave with the pirates, she was confident enough that she could succeed in her mission, even if she had to resort to making 'tick tock' noises to scare him into doing what she wanted._

_She hadn't counted on Hook having company. There were voices coming from his room aboard the ship, and one was an unknown woman's. Lindsey stopped where she was, to the left of the doorway, and decided to eavesdrop._

_"She can't stay here forever, she has to move on!" said the unknown woman._

_"Why? For your little plan to succeed?" responded Hook, who sounded very unhappy. "She's still a child, let her have what bit of a childhood she has left."_

_"You and I both know that is not an option. She can't stay here forever, she has to-" The woman cut off, but then spoke once more. "It seems as though you have an uninvited guest aboard your ship. I suggest you see to her and remember your duty."_

_The door quickly opened, and Lindsey found herself looking at a very angry Hook._

_"Didn't your parents ever teach you to knock?" he asked in a gruff tone._

_"No," answered Lindsey simply, more intent on finding out who the woman was. She squirmed past Hook's body in the doorway, and into the room- only to find it empty._

_"Who was she? She didn't sound very nice," said Lindsey as she inspected the room, trying to figure out how the woman had escaped without Lindsey noticing._

_Hook chuckled at her statement. "I sometimes call her an old harpy." Seeing the confused expression on Lindsey's face, he clarified, "An old lady from a Greek legend who was a monster with wings."_

_Lindsey accepted the explanation, and her eyes fell upon a locket out on Hook's desk. She couldn't remember seeing it before and wondered if Hook valued it more than his hook. He seemed to, when he suddenly snatched it out of her reach and snarled, "Don't you dare touch that!"_

_"Why?" asked Lindsey. She was not only curious as to why Hook had a necklace, but why he seemed so protective of it._

_"Why? Why?" Hook spat back. "I'm the one who should be asking the questions here. Why are you on my ship?"_

_Her face reddened, as Lindsey remembered that getting caught wasn't part of the plan. _

_When Lindsey didn't answer, Hook decided to answer for her. "Let me guess, playing a game with the boy again? See what you can steal from me this time, eh?" He fumbled through several drawers in the desk before finding what he was looking for- a hook. _

_"Here," he said tossing it to her. "It's a spare- don't tell Peter that, if you do, you won't win the game."_

_Lindsey caught the hook when he tossed it to her, and turned it over in her hands as she fingered it. "There's a catch though," said Hook, causing Lindsey to look away from the shiny object in her hand. "You have to leave Neverland for good, no coming back."_

_"Does this have to do with the harpy?" asked Lindsey, not happy about the offer._

_"Yes," answered Hook. "She's not pleased by the amount of time you're spending here, and thinks it should be spent... elsewhere."_

_"Are you afraid of her?"_

_"No!" said Hook quickly. "I just, owe her..." Hook gritted his teeth in frustration. "Look, just leave. Do yourself a favor and leave."_

_Lindsey looked at him, not sure what to think. This was a side of Hook she hadn't seen before, Hook had always been silly or angry, never serious. She didn't want to leave Neverland, and didn't understand why she should have to just because some old harpy said so._

_"LEAVE!" yelled Hook suddenly, frightening Lindsey into taking several steps away from him. In a softer tone he added, "Just leave for a little bit... just long enough to make her happy... then you can come back."_

_She just nodded, not knowing what else to do or say at Hook's sudden outburst. Then she ran._

* * *

_Lindsey won the game that day, but decided it'd be best to stay away from Neverland for a while. She didn't know who the harpy was, but Hook was apparently scared of her. If Hook was scared of her, then perhaps it was best to stay away and not make her mad._

_Heeding Hook's warning meant spending more time with Sidney. Lindsey was okay with that, as long as it wasn't with the princesses and their sparkly dresses. She was in luck though- Sidney was tired of spending time in the castles and wanted to get to Wonderland. The easiest way was to travel like Alice once had- down a rabbit hole._

_The two sisters were in the forest, combing it for an entrance. They found plenty of holes, some even belonging to rabbits, but none that were the right holes. Deciding they could cover more ground by splitting up, each sister went a different way in the forest, but still close enough to hear the other shout._

_"Hello again," said a voice from above. Looking up, Lindsey saw the Cheshire Cat lounging on a branch. She had encountered him a few times before, but he never stuck around for very long. During their first encounter which was in Neverland, Lindsey had ranted about Peter calling her 'Lost Girl' when she clearly wasn't one. The Cat had taken to calling her 'Not Lost Girl', which wasn't her name, but was better than what Peter had been calling her._

_ "What are you looking for Not Lost Girl?" asked the Cat._

_"A way to Wonderland," replied Lindsey. Then, hoping one of Wonderland's famous residents might be able to help her, she asked, "Would you know how to get there?"_

_"Oh, I know how to get everywhere and anywhere. But you don't want to go there..." The Cheshire Cat drifted off the branch and down to the ground until it was at eye-level with Lindsey. "You've gotten smaller..."_

_"No I haven't," she said, not understanding the Cheshire Cat. Trying to get him back on topic she asked, "Which hole will lead me to Wonderland?"_

_The Cheshire Cat floated around her, before swishing his tail to the left. "I believe, the hole you need is that one," he responded, fading away as soon as he finished the sentence._

_Satisfied__, Lindsey made her way to the hole, which was actually more of a ditch. She was getting ready to yell for her sister when she noticed something that was half buried in the ground. Curious, Lindsey cleared away the dirt and leaves with her hands, revealing a sword. Lindsey had barely touched the sword when a shiver went up her spine, and images flooded her mind. _

_Images of her and her sister, fighting in some sort of battle. She held the sword and had it raised above Sidney's head..._

_The sword clattered to the ground as Lindsey dropped it. She didn't know what it was, but it wasn't good. Words such as 'prophecy', 'hero and villain', and 'only one shall live' floated through her mind, accompanying the images._

_Lindsey didn't know what everything meant, but knew she had to get away from the sword as far as possible. She didn't want to hurt her sister, couldn't think of hurting her sister, which was what the sword seemed to have been implying._

_So she ran. She ran away from the sword, past her sister, and over the bridge._

* * *

_Once on the other side, Lindsey found her parents and several other adults waiting for her, wanting to talk to her and Sidney about their 'magical world'. Sidney had seen Lindsey running, and followed her back across, also finding the adults._

_Sidney patiently explained everything- the wish, how the bridge worked, how time hardly seemed to pass. Lindsey stood awkwardly by her side. When the adults insisted that it was all fake, all imaginary, and wasn't real, Sidney started to cry. She asked Lindsey to tell them it was true, everything Sidney had said was true._

_But Lindsey didn't want it to be true. If it was true, then the sword was real, which meant the events it had showed her was real, and so was the prophecy._

_So she said it was just a game, just make believe. Saying those words made the world seem less real, and appeased the adults- if one twin understood the truth, it'd be only a matter of time before the other one understood as well._

_That day, Lindsey lied. She lied to the adults and lied to herself until she believed the lie to be the truth. And she continued to run from it._

_Until one day when she couldn't run or deny the truth anymore._

* * *

When the light faded from Lindsey's sight, she found herself with the sword in her hands and Gaston's body at her feet. Despite the blood covering the sword, she could tell it wasn't her own. She recognized it as the one which had been hanging on Sidney's wall- the one that was supposed to belong to the hero of the prophecy.

****Author's Note****

I'd like to Galimatias, The Invisible Enchantress, nightmaster000, and civilwarrose for reviews. I always appreciate reviews, and will be looking forward to reading the ones from this chapter.

So, about that ending... the sword was always meant for Lindsey, not Sidney. Sidney just brought it into battle. Gaston broke her arm, causing her to drop it. And yes, Gaston is dead- one of the deaths I warned about in the last chapter.

At this point I should mention like twists. I like having the reader think the story is going in one way, but then twisting it so it goes in another. If you were able to spot this coming, good for you. If not, don't feel too bad. I've tried to foreshadow this twist, while not completely giving it away.

I don't know about length, but plot-wise, this is the halfway point. Next chapter will pretty much be about reactions- Sidney's and how she found the sword, some of the hero's reactions, some of the villain's. Lindsey wasn't the only one who saw the bright light and realized what it meant. The next update might be a little late because I might not have internet access. I won't know for sure until it gets closer. Worse case scenario I'll update the 3rd.

There was some interest for my story idea from the last chapter, and I hope to have it up soon. This chapter required a lot of planning due to the twist, and I changed how Lindsey discovered the prophecy/sword several times until it was the version you see here.

So thanks for reading, and if possible, please leave a review!


	15. Sidney's Worst Memory

I do not own the rights to anything Disney. Next update is June 16th.

I'm very very sorry for the late update. It's a long story, but the short version is I went on two different road trips/vacations within a week of each other. I knew I was going on them, and silly me thought there would still be plenty of time to update. I was wrong. Not only was there no time to update, there was barely any time to get on the internet. Once the trips were over and I did have time, I had major writer's block and was stuck on the same paragraph for a couple days. This chapter is one of my shortest and it could be better, but at least I made it past the paragraph that was giving me issue. The normal updating schedule will resume next Sunday and my writer's block should be over.

Please excuse my naivete, and look forward to the next update.

**Part Two: Hero**

**Sidney's Worst Memory**

The first Disney movie Sidney could ever remember seeing was Pinocchio. The characters themselves didn't capture her attention or imagination, which was understandable since she was three at the time, and had the attention span of a three year-old. What she remembered most from her first viewing of the movie, was the belief that wishing on stars could make dreams come true- no matter how impossible they might seem.

The trip to Disney World had been a surprise for Sidney and Lindsey. Before the trip, Sidney didn't wish on stars because she didn't know what to wish for. It was the night they spent at the Magic Kingdom when she finally realized what she wanted. Colorful fireworks exploded in the night sky above her, making the place seem so magical, so full of possibilities. Despite all the artificial lights, she could still make out at least one star shining out brightly.

Choosing what to wish for that night had been so simple- for it to all be _real_. Her face was scrunched up as she made her wish, concentrating harder than she ever had before. Lindsey noticed, so Sidney reluctantly told her what she was doing and Lindsey wanted to make a wish as well. Neither sister asked the other what they had wished for, but both left the most magical place on earth convinced their wish had come true.

It wasn't soon after they returned home, when Sidney discovered the bridge behind their house led to the 'Disney World'. Whenever the girls had free time they would scamper across the bridge, eager for the magical world waiting on the other side. Sidney loved the attention the princesses lavished on her, and really didn't miss Lindsey as she went off on her adventures. Occasionally the two would team up, but most of the time they were apart.

The discovery of the bridge being magical was Sidney's best memory. Her worst memory was her sister denying the magic.

They had been looking for a way to get to Wonderland. Everybody in the castles had done their best to dissuade Sidney from venturing into that part of the woods, claiming all the residents were quite mad and therefore not a place for little girls to go. Alice, the original little girl who traveled to Wonderland, had even done her best to persuade Sidney to stay away.

Normally, Sidney would listen to Alice and the princesses. They were her heroes, her mentors. Except she so desperately wanted to meet the Cheshire Cat and she was willing to risk a beheading to do so. According to them, the Cheshire Cat was rarely seen outside of Wonderland. The only times he had been spotted had been on rare occasions, with people he valued and trusted. Sidney figured if she could just meet the Cheshire Cat, he would come to her whenever she wanted, outside of Wonderland.

Her sister was the only one she could turn to who'd be willing to sneak into Wonderland with her. Prince Roland, whom she had adventures when her sister wasn't with her, would never dare break the rules or go against his parents. She knew there was no point in asking him, he'd just talk her out of it. Lindsey had no qualms about finding a way into Wonderland, and didn't even seem fazed by the inhabitant's madness.

Sidney had gotten her foot stuck in a hole, which certainly did not lead to Wonderland, when she saw Lindsey run past her and toward the bridge. By the time Sidney had managed to free her foot and crossed the bridge as well, her sister was talking to their parents along with several friends and family members. As she got closer to the group which was gathered at the end of the bridge, she picked up phrases like 'not real', and 'all nonsense'.

Realizing she was there, everybody turned their attention on her. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she protested that the magic was real, if they just crossed the bridge, they'd see it. to appease her, they crossed the bridge- only to find no sign of magic or Disney on the other side.

Sidney turned to her sister, the one person she knew she could count on, to tell them they were wrong, it was real, they just couldn't see it. Instead of defending her as expected, Lindsey joined them. She claimed that it was all make believe and it was time for Sidney to grow sister's denial was like a stake to the heart and hurt the most. Just hours before they had been looking for a way to get to Wonderland, and now Lindsey was pretending it never happened.

For her parent's sake, she pretended that it was all a lie. She would still run over the bridge and into the woods, but she was more careful about it. No more claiming it was Disney or magic, just that she was interested in the plant and animal life. Her parents accepted the lie easily over the years. She was never the twin who lied, and was always successful in school and extracurricular activities.

In time, she learned of the prophecy and her role in it. Accepting the fact that she would have to fight her sister, and only one would emerge alive was hard. But the look in Cinderella's eyes as she explained Sidney's fate, and the look on the faces of the others, was so full of hope and desperation. For years she had looked up to these people, only to learn that they looked up to her in turn.

She couldn't fail her heroes. She wouldn't fail her heroes. Besides, her sister had already failed her, sticking a knife in her gut and twisting it when she told Sidney there was no such thing as magic. At least these people believed in her and knew she was telling the truth.

So when she wasn't studying for her regular classes, she was studying for her Disney classes, determined she would not be the one to fail in the battle. She did try to get Lindsey interested in learning anything that could help her, except Lindsey would just turn her down and continue to be her slacker self.

Lindsey's arrival in Disney and allegiance with the villains, and Roland's attempted poisoning had been a lot to take in. Everybody was also on edge, expecting a large scale attack from the villains since they finally had Lindsey on their side.

When word of it did arrive, Sidney was prepared. The Sword of Destiny had been polished so many times in the previous days, she was surprised she didn't need sunglasses to look at it directly. Sidney had a love-hate relationship with the sword. Ever since she discovered it in the woods when she was thirteen, close to the spot where she had once been looking for an entrance to Wonderland, it seemed to fight her. It took all of her strength and discipline to hold the sword still, and move it how she wanted when she was practicing. If she wasn't paying attention, it was liable to fly out of her hand and embed itself in a nearby door or wall.

Concerned, she had asked Merlin, the Blue Fairy, Prince Phillip who had once handled the sword, and others what was going all. Their answers all boiled down to the same thing- she was still too young, too inexperienced to properly handle it. When the time came, the sword would obey it.

Except, it didn't. When she needed it the most, it had slipped from her hand, leaving her vulnerable to an attack from Gaston. As she tried to pick it back up, Gaston broke her arm and shoved her on the ground. Every spell she had in her head vanished due to the panic and pain she was in. Performing magic under duress had never been part of her lessons. Sidney made a mental note if she survived, it would be added immediately. Just as she feared it was the end, a blinding light filled her vision. The pressure on her chest subsided, and she found she was able to roll over onto her back and sit up.

Roland, Mulan, Prince Philip- those were the names going through her head of the identity of her savior. Lindsey was nowhere on the list. Yet there she was, standing triumphantly over Gaston's body. Ruby blood dripped from the sword, and a golden aura was emitting from Lindsey and the weapon in her hands. Sidney could hear a faint humming noise, that she instinctively knew was coming from the sword as a sign it was pleased. Dogs would wag their tails when they were happy, and apparently swords would hum.

Which could only mean one thing.

"No," said Sidney, her voice hoarse. "_No._"

No. It couldn't be true. She was the hero, not Lindsey. The sword should be responding her like that, not Lindsey. Everybody had said so. They had all said so! They wouldn't lie to her!

Unless they had been wrong. So if Lindsey was the hero, than that meant she was the villain. The pain she was feeling now was nothing compared to the pain in her broken arm.

The aura around Lindsey faded away and seemed in some sort of fugue state as she took in the sword in her hand and Gaston's body at her feet. Sidney let out another, "No!" which was enough to bring Lindsey back to the present.

Lindsey dropped the sword as if it was rabid, and started to pull Sidney to her feet until Sidney pushed her away.

"No, I'm the hero, you're the villain. That's what they all said!"

Lindsey turned her head away instead of replying. She didn't ask what Sidney was talking about, didn't question her, didn't claim what Sidney was saying was 'stupid'.

"You knew," Sidney said in an accusing tone. "You knew all this _time..._"

"Not all this time," whispered Lindsey, still unwilling to look Sidney in the eyes. "I just now remembered that I knew. I learned it a while ago, and didn't want it to be true... so I ran. And then pretended that this place didn't exist. If it wasn't real, then the prophecy wasn't real."

A heavy sob escaped from Sidney's chest. This couldn't be happening to her, this couldn't be real. It wasn't _fair._

Her worst memory had just been replaced.

****Author's Note****

See the beginning of the chapter to understand why this update was so late. I didn't abandon the story, I was just on vacation with no time to write/update.

A major thanks goes to The Invisible Enchantress, nightmaster000, civilwarrose, and pyro524 for reviews.

pyro524 asked why I included the Cheshire Cat and Iago if I had a 'no talking animals' rule. It was a fair question, so here's my response for others who are curious:

My main reason for the whole 'no talking animals' was mainly aimed at movies like Robin Hood, Lion King, and Mickey Mouse & co. since they're animals who act and dress like humans, which brings up some issues. What's the difference between animals who act as humans, and animals who act as animals? How would humans react to those characters in the real world? Would their be any prejudice? What would happen if humans ate meat such as cows and chickens in front of those same animals who acted as humans? Would they join in? Disapprove? If Robin Hood was real, that means the English monarchy was made of animals. How did that happen when European royalty, usually depicted as being human in Disney films, was known for marriages and alliances with England?

It raised a lot of questions in my mind, and created too many problems that weren't related to the plot. Therefore it was simpler to omit those characters.

Now the Cheshire Cat, along with other Wonderland characters such as the White Rabbit and March Hare get a reprieve for a very simple reason: they're from Wonderland- a place full of card soldiers and plants that clearly don't exist in our world, a place full of nonsense. Alice has to get to it by falling down a rabbit hole, which sort of implies it's another world or dimension. In my story you can take the rabbit hole route or the path in the forest that leads to it, which is normally guarded. The rest of the residents of the Disney world view the Wonderland residents as all mad, and don't take them seriously. Therefore it's acceptable and even expected that Wonderland would be crazy enough to have talking animals.

Iago gets a pass because he's a parrot and some do talk. He doesn't dress or try to pass as a human, but just talks like one. Disney sidekick animals are usually more intelligent than their real life counterparts, and if you really need a reason, it could be a side-effect from hanging out with Jafar and his magic. Perhaps Iago was his 'guinea pig' for certain spells, making him more intelligent than the average bird.

I hope that answer is satisfactory, and if anybody needs a more in depth one, let me know.

Thanks for reading and sticking with me. I don't have any vacations planned in the immediate future, so hopefully there won't be any more late chapters.


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